~ By: The Observer – 9 March 2025
When the COVID-19 panic gripped the globe, governments and corporations rolled out vaccine mandates with ruthless efficiency, leaving employees in the crosshairs of a stark ultimatum: get the jab or get out.
Thousands lost their livelihoods, sacked for refusing a vaccine they opposed on religious, medical, or personal grounds.
Companies, desperate to comply with public health edicts, turned a blind eye to individual rights, while governments fueled the frenzy with a triple threat of mainstream media propaganda, financial coercion, and suffocating peer pressure.
The result?
A workforce divided, human rights trampled, and a wave of lawsuits that are now rewriting the rules. People in countries around the world from the Americas, Europe, Africa to Australia, fired workers have taken their employers to court – and many are winning.
The Global Push: How Governments Forced the Needle
Governments didn’t just suggest mass vaccination – they engineered it, insisted on it, and punished those who refused to obey their illegal orders.
Mainstream media churned out relentless fear campaigns, painting the unvaccinated as pariahs, while billions in subsidies and tax breaks dangled like carrots for compliant businesses. Peer pressure sealed the deal, with social ostracism weaponized to enforce conformity.
In the USA federal mandates tied to contracts strong-armed employers; in Australia, state governments flexed their muscle with “no jab, no job” policies. The pressure was inescapable – but so was the hypocrisy. These same governments had signed onto the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), a global pact meant to safeguard human dignity and our inalienable rights, only to toss it aside when panic hit. Unfortunately, the courts have continued to ignore the ICCPR, as I found out when I was hauled before a Victorian court on a spurious charge. The court ignored all the laws in their zealous attempt to silence me.
The ICCPR: A Promise Broken
Adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 and entering into force in 1976, the ICCPR was embraced by 173 countries, including powerhouses like the U.S., Australia, Canada, and most of Europe. It’s a binding treaty, not a suggestion. Signatories commit to uphold rights like freedom of religion (Article 18), freedom of expression (Article 19), and the right to work without discrimination (Article 26). Once ratified, it’s woven into international law, enforceable through domestic courts and the UN Human Rights Committee. Governments can’t just shrug it off – they’re legally accountable, with the covenant acting as a yardstick for justice.
But during the COVID chaos, the ICCPR was ignored in the stampede to bow down to the pressure being exerted by the World Economic Forum through its agencies in the United Nations. Governments ignored Article 18 when they denied religious exemptions, trampled Article 19 by censoring vaccine dissent, and shredded Article 26 with blanket mandates that crushed livelihoods.
Why?
A lot of people let panic overrule principle while they unthinkingly gave up their rights without a murmer.. Public health became the ultimate trump card, with leaders claiming “emergency powers” to suspend rights they’d sworn to protect. The UN stayed silent, and the covenant’s teeth – meant to bite through state overreach – were pulled.
Possible punishments?
Courts can order compensation, reinstatement, or policy reversals, while the UN could issue damning reports or push for sanctions. Yet, enforcement is a mirage – it relies on political will, which vanished when the world chose fear over freedom.
Domestic courts, when brave enough, can hit hard: they’ve forced governments and companies to fork over millions or rewrite draconian policies. Since people have started demanding justice for their rights denied, many of them are emerging victorious from the courts.
But it’s not all good news. Many governments are still in denial, attempting to deny their role in suppressing the human rights of the people they swore to serve and protect. The UN, though, has sharper tools it rarely unsheathes – it could drag offending nations before the Human Rights Committee, demand formal compliance, or rally international pressure through trade penalties or diplomatic isolation. In extreme cases, breaches could even escalate to the International Court of Justice, where states face binding judgments and global disgrace.
But here’s the gut punch: these mechanisms are paralyzed without backbone. The UN’s reports gather dust, sanctions fizzle under vetoes, and courts bow to political winds when leaders cloak tyranny in “emergency” garb. The ICCPR’s power exists – but only if the world’s elites don’t flinch first.
We really need people to understand that all governments and courts are public SERVANTS. We are their MASTERS, and the servant cannot tell the master what to do. So, it’s up to each one of us to understand our status when dealing with government and the courts. If we insist that they respect our rights, and if we all understand that we are born with these inalienable rights, we can change their criminal behaviour and usher in a happier future.
This article has been written to help inspire a many people as possible to start dealing with governments as sovereign men and women, capable or deciding how we want to live and the SERVICE we demand from our public SERVANTS. It’s all about perception. So, here are some examples I hope will inspire you to defend your rights, and mine. Once we exert our power over our servants, the results will be truly amazing.
Some Notable Court Victories
Several employees have successfully challenged companies after being laid off for refusing vaccine mandates, particularly citing religious beliefs. Notable cases include:
- Six Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employees received a total of $7.8 million for religious discrimination after being fired (San Francisco Chronicle).
- Xin Yin Ooi won her case against the NSW Department of Planning and Environment in Australia, though specific details are limited (The BFD).
- Austal USA settled with workers fired for refusing the vaccine, with terms not disclosed (Bloomberg Law).
Some of the Victories That Shook the System – There have been many more
- Lisa Domski (United States): Lisa Domski, a devout Catholic and IT specialist, clocked 38 years at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan before the mandate hit. In 2021, her request for a religious exemption – rooted in her objection to vaccines tied to fetal cell lines – was flatly denied, and she was fired from her remote job. She sued, claiming religious discrimination, and in 2024, a jury handed her a jaw-dropping $12.69 million – including $10 million in punitive damages, $1.7 million in lost wages, and $1 million for her pain. Domski didn’t return to work, but her win sent a seismic message: employers can’t trample faith without paying a price. “This isn’t just about me,” she said. “It’s about standing up.”
- Six Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employees received a total of $7.8 million for religious discrimination after being fired (San Francisco Chronicle).
- Xin Yin Ooi won her case against the NSW Department of Planning and Environment in Australia, though specific details are limited (The BFD).
- Austal USA settled with workers fired for refusing the vaccine, with terms not disclosed (Bloomberg Law).
- New Zealand: A port employee was found to be unjustly dismissed after refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, likely leading to compensation or reinstatement. Read the Port Employee Case.
- New York City Employees (United States): In 2021, New York City’s vaccine mandate torched the careers of thousands of public workers – sanitation crews, firefighters, teachers – who wouldn’t comply. Branded as threats to public safety, they were sacked en masse. But in 2022, a state judge dropped a bombshell, ruling the mandate “arbitrary and capricious” and ordering every fired worker reinstated with full back pay. The city’s heavy-handed policy crumbled, restoring jobs and dignity to those railroaded by bureaucracy. “We were treated like criminals,” one firefighter said. “Now we’re back – with justice.”
- Queensland Police and Ambulance Workers (Australia): Down under, Queensland’s “no jab, no job” edict hit police and ambulance workers hard in 2021 and 2022. Of course, people from all walks of life lost their jobs, but this case shows that the mandates were imposed without any thought to the consequences; a lessong governments are learning the hard way. Refuseniks were suspended or sacked, their rights shredded under the guise of emergency powers. Enter billionaire Clive Palmer, who bankrolled a legal fight that landed in the Queensland Supreme Court. In 2024, the court ruled the mandates unlawful – a breach of human rights under state law. Outcomes are still unfolding, but reinstatement and compensation loom large for the 86 challengers. “This is about freedom,” Palmer roared, as the ruling rocked Australia’s mandate machine.
But not all appeals had wins:
- Canada: While there are many wrongful dismissal claims, no clear court wins were found, though labour tribunals have discussed procedural issues. For example, a Nova Scotia Labour Board case dismissed an appeal after the employer dropped the mandate, but the employee didn’t win compensation.
- United Kingdom: The UK has seen limited success, with employment tribunals often ruling dismissals fair, as seen in healthcare worker cases where Article 8 ECHR rights were balanced against public health needs.
- France: In France, the Constitutional Court rejected injunctions against vaccine mandates, and no notable employee wins were found, suggesting courts have upheld employer policies.
- Germany: Similarly, Germany’s Constitutional Court allowed vaccine mandates for health workers to proceed, with no documented employee victories against dismissals.
- South Africa: In some cases, courts have ruled dismissals procedurally unfair, such as in “Dale Dreyden v Duncan Korabie Attorney,” where the employee received compensation for the unfair process, though the dismissal itself was upheld as substantively fair Labour Court Sides.
An unexpected finding: During our research, we found that in South Africa, while the reason for dismissal was often upheld as fair, procedural errors led to compensation, highlighting the importance of fair processes even in controversial cases.
Some Notable Wins
| Case Name | Location | Outcome | Amount Awarded/Settlement | Year of Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lisa Domski vs. Blue Cross Blue Shield | Michigan, USA | Won verdict | $12.69 million | 2024 |
| BART Employees vs. BART | California, USA | Won verdict | $7.8 million total | 2024 |
| Xin Yin Ooi vs. NSW Department of Planning | NSW, Australia | Won case, details limited | Not disclosed | 2024 |
| Austal USA vs. Employees | Alabama, USA | Settled, terms confidential | Not disclosed | 2025 |
The Fallout: Rights Restored, Lessons Learned
These cases aren’t just wins – they’re a reckoning. Multimillion-dollar payouts in the U.S. and a landmark ruling in Australia prove courts, when adjudicating the law, won’t rubber-stamp corporate or government overreach.
They are also just the start. As more people realize that they do have a case to bring to the courts, governments will start backing down and doing the job they were elected to do. The people will no longer accept those who have assumed power over us without our permission. The servant needs a good lesson, and taking them to court is a lesson they will never forget.
Religious freedom, human rights, and workplace fairness took brutal hits during the COVID panic, but these workers we have mentioned here were brave, took the companies to court and as they won, they have clawed back their rights, and that is a win for all of us. Many got their jobs back; others got cash – all got vindication.
The message to employers and governments is clear:
Tread on our rights, and you’ll pay.
As the dust settles, one truth stands tall – the fight for justice doesn’t end when the panic does.
Sources: Richmond Times-Dispatch, San Francisco Chronicle, Fox News, The Washington Post, The Guardian, ABC News, United Nations ICCPR Documentation
