Three former Florida-based employees of the Walt Disney Co. (NYSE:DIS) have filed a lawsuit claiming that they were fired after challenging the company’s pandemic-era rules on masks and vaccines.
What Happened: Barbara Andreas, Stephen J. Cribb and Adam Pajer allege that Disney policies during the pandemic “targeted cast members who declined COVID-19 vaccinations.”
The plaintiffs say “taking these injections would violate their deeply-held convictions.”
Disney “announced to its entire U.S. cast a vaccinate or terminate COVID-19 vaccination policy” on July 30, 2021, with a two-month deadline to produce evidence of full vaccination status as a “condition of continued employment.” The policy was initially aimed at non-union Disney employees but was later expanded to all workers.
Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law on Nov. 18, 2021, that banned vaccine requirements by Florida-based companies. Disney is the state’s largest private-sector employer.
The plaintiffs claimed that Disney responded to the law by enacting “augmented protocols” for unvaccinated employees that “consisted of harsh isolation and restrictions, causing serious breathing problems for plaintiffs and making it nearly impossible to find a compliant manner and location in which to eat or drink while on shift.”
The plaintiffs each reported Disney to the Florida Attorney General, the Florida Commission on Human Relations and the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming discrimination and retaliation and for violating state laws prohibiting workplace vaccine mandates. The lawsuit claimed they were fired in violation of whistleblower laws. Andreas’s employment ended in March of this year; Cribb was terminated in April; and Pajer was dismissed in June.
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What Happens Next: The plaintiffs are seeking the reinstatement of their employment, along with damages for lost wages, employee benefits and attorney’s fees. They are also requesting that their case be heard by a jury.
In Benzinga’s recently published four-part series "The Crisis at Disney," Rebekah Barton, senior entertainment editor for the Inside the Magic blog, noted the pandemic planted the seeds of fissure between Disney and DeSantis that resulted in political enmity that led to DeSantis successfully coordinating the end of Disney’s special tax district status in Florida.
“It definitely came to a head during the pandemic because DeSantis was very anti-mask and Disney was very pro-mask,” she said. “It started there with the parks having various restrictions and vaccination requirements for employees and things of that nature, which the DeSantis administration didn't agree with.”
Photo: MacGyverNRW / Pixabay
