Chavez

1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7

NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA

8 9 10 GABRIEL CHAVEZ, et al., 11 Plaintiffs, No. C 22-06119 WHA 12 v. 13 SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA RAPID ORDER DENYING 14 TRANSIT DISTRICT, PLAINTIFFS' MOTION FOR

CLASS CERTIFICATION

Defendant. 15 16 17 INTRODUCTION 18 In this putative class action alleging a failure to accommodate religious beliefs by 19 defendant employer, plaintiffs seek to certify a class of current and former employees of 20 defendant, appoint a class representative, and appoint class counsel. Certification is DENIED. 21 STATEMENT 22 During the pandemic, the BART Board of Directors approved a policy mandating the 23 COVID-19 vaccination of employees and board members by December 13, 2021. The 24 mandate created exceptions for those who qualified for either medical or religious 25 accommodations. BART received 188 requests for religious exemption and 26 accommodation. Of those, 40 chose not to complete the application process, and were either 27 …