Three former employees are suing Walt Disney World, claiming they were fired for refusing to wear masks and receive COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons.
Barbara Andreas, Stephen Cribb and Adam Payer stated in lawsuit The June 30 filing alleges the firm discriminated against them by denying their request to be exempt from company mandates requiring vaccines and face coverings.
Andres and Cribb were fired in March and Payer was let go in June, according to the lawsuit.
The trio, who are devout Christians, have worked for the company for between seven and twenty years.
Disney’s vaccine mandate was suspended in November after Ron DeSantis and Florida legislators limited the authority of bosses to require workers to be vaccinated.
Stephen Cribb (left) and Adam Padger said they would not receive a jab for religious reasons
Barbara Andreas is another former Disney employee who joined the lawsuit filed on June 30
Three former employees are suing Walt Disney World, alleging they were fired after they refused to wear face masks and get the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons, the lawsuit says
The company later waived masking requirements for vaccinated employees.
The lawsuit alleges that the “enhanced protocols” Disney was forced to use for unvaccinated employees consisted of “rigid seclusion and restraints” that caused “severe suffocation” and made it “almost impossible to find a compliant way and place to eat and drink while working. shift.’
The lawsuit also says, “Disney brought wonder and magic into the lives and homes of millions,” but the company “showed itself to be the villain” and “a shadow has fallen on Disney” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adreas, who has worked at Disney for 17 years, filed for a religious exemption, claiming that wearing the mask was an “insult” to her Christian beliefs.
“We live by faith, not fear,” Andreas, who was the Walt Disney World operations manager for ESPN’s sports complex, told WESH.
Andreas applied for exemption on the basis of her Christian religion.
“I said I was very uncomfortable doing that. Now I’ve been waiting four months to be released not only from the vaccine, but also from wearing a mask, all of which I made clear back in August that violates my religious beliefs,” she explained.
Then Disney changed the health and safety rules.
“A cloth mask was no longer enough, now it was an N95 with a warning word written on it,” Andreas said.
The lawsuit also claimed that “participating in a medical experiment such as testing for COVID or vaccines” also violates her beliefs because she believes aborted fetal cells were used to produce it.
The vaccine mandate was suspended in November after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and state lawmakers limited employers’ authority to require workers to be vaccinated
This is not true, the Covid vaccines were made using fetal cells and do not contain aborted cells.
Vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna used fetal cell membranes early in the development of the Covid vaccine to test the effectiveness of their formulas.
The fetal tissue used in such processes was obtained from planned abortions that took place decades ago.
The cells used have since been replicated many times, and none of the original tissues have been used to make the vaccines that are now available.
Disney responded to her request on Dec. 29, saying that “after carefully reviewing the information you provided, we cannot conclude that you are prohibited from wearing a mask because of a sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance.”
“Religious belief includes my clothing and grooming practices, including what I wear on my head or face. Wearing a mask is an affront to my Christian beliefs,” one former worker wrote.
The staff cited biblical scriptures, asking for their placement in the trial.
Bible References: John 8:32, John 14:6, John 11:25, 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, and Ecclesiastes 7:17. He stated that he must take care of his body as “God’s temple” and that “the truth is through God the Father and His Son Jesus” so he has a responsibility to seek the truth about what he puts into his body and avoid harming himself or risking self-harm . “Our bodies were not designed by God to inject a known poison into them,” he concluded, the lawsuit says as justification for refusing to vaccinate.
The lawsuit alleges that Disney “could and should have accommodated these religious beliefs in practice” and that the records make clear that the company has an “irrational” fear of workers who are “perpetually exposed or infected with disease and present a constant danger to others and guests”.
Disney did not respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
The former employees are seeking an unspecified amount of money in compensation for lost wages, benefits and attorneys’ fees, the suit says.
Each of the fired workers reported the company to the Florida attorney general, the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, alleging discrimination and retaliation and violations of state laws prohibiting workplace vaccinations, the lawsuit said.
They sued under Florida’s whistleblower statute, alleging that reporting the company to authorities also led to their firing, the suit says.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11000443/Disney-sued-three-former-workers-Orlando-resort-fired-refusing-COVID-vaccines.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
