A religious discrimination and invasion of privacy lawsuit that was filed against ABC by former actor Ingo Rademacher has been dismissed by a judge, following his dismissal from the show “General Hospital” in 2021 after 25 years for opposing the network’s vaccine mandate. On Monday, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen I. Goorvitch issued his ruling, having heard arguments on the network’s dismissal motion on April 5. Rademacher had sued ABC in December 2021, alleging that they had wrongfully denied him a religious exemption and used the mandatory vaccination rule as an excuse to terminate his contract. According to his allegations, the company had made it appear as though they wanted him to stay, then denied his request under the guise of lack of accommodation. ABC dismissed these claims, stating that there were no triable issues in the case and that Rademacher’s religious conviction claims were suspect. In their court papers, the ABC lawyers argued that the vaccination rule had been the result of a deliberative process at Disney, with senior leaders and medical experts being involved in making the decision, and the rule required employees to be vaccinated by November 1, 2021, unless a religious or medical exemption was granted. The ABC lawyers also revealed that Rademacher’s character had been considered for elimination from the daytime series by show writer Chris Van Etten, hence his request for religious exemption in October 2021. However, during a deposition, it was discovered that Rademacher’s opposition to vaccination was not rooted in any religious text or teaching, but was instead based on secular, philosophical/moral beliefs and concerns over health and efficacy. The same ABC employee who had granted multiple requests for religious accommodations to the vaccine mandate had denied Rademacher’s request and set a deadline for him to get the shot. Rademacher’s attorneys filed a pretrial motion in December 2021 seeking judgment in his favor on the religious discrimination accusation, stating that ABC knew about his belief and made no effort to accommodate them. The judge denied Rademacher’s motion on Monday, thus ruling in favor of ABC.
Ex-‘GH’ Actor’s Faith Discrimination/Privacy Suit Dismissed in Favor of ABC
