A Los Angeles woman has filed suit against French biotech company Sanofi for religious discrimination, accusing the company of illegally firing her after refusing her request for a religious exemption from the company's Covid vaccine mandate.
Plaintiff Stacey Wade-James initially filed suit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Jan. 16. The lawsuit was later removed by defendants to federal court on Feb. 20.
According to the complaint, Wade-James had worked for Sanofi, formally known as Genzyme, since 2015.
Sanofi/Genzyme is a global company headquartered in France. Its U.S. headquarters is in Massachusetts.
According to the complaint, Wade-James attained the position of senior area business manager by 2019. In that role, Wade-James worked remotely "in the field."
According to the complaint, Wade-James was successful in her role, and had no disciplinary issues at work until after the company instituted a mandate requiring field workers to obtain a Covid shot or risk termination.
According to the complaint, Wade-James is a devout Christian who believes such injections would violate her religious beliefs about the sanctity of the human body as the "temple of God," as she believes is taught in Christian scripture in the Bible.
According to the complaint, Wade-James said she sought a religious exemption to the Covid shot mandate, but was made to feel mocked and humiliated by managers reviewing that request, before it was ultimately denied. She was ultimately terminated.
Wade-James is seeking statutory and compensatory damages for Sanofi's alleged violation of California anti-discrimination and labor laws. She is also seeking a court order requiring Sanofi to institute better anti-religious discrimination training programs within the company.
She accuses the company of unlawful discrimination, failure to reasonably accommodate, retaliation, failure to prevent discrimination or harassment, wrongful termination in violation of public policy, failure to timely provide access to employee payroll records, and unfair business practices.
Wade-James is represented by attorney Angel Horacek, of Culver City.