Rockmond Dunbar Sues Disney For $1 Million Over ‘9-1-1’ Vaccine Mandate – Deadline

UPDATE: Disney and twentieth Tv not face a disparate impression declare in a lawsuit introduced by actor Rockmond Dunbar. 

A federal decide dominated that Dunbar’s dismissal from the drama collection for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine can’t declare disparate impression as a result of no different members of his Common Knowledge church have been affected by the rationale for his job loss. He had claimed a spiritual exemption, saying the companies discriminated towards church members. 

Disney and twentieth nonetheless face 10 different claims that embrace racial and spiritual discrimination, breach of contract, and retaliation.

“He nonetheless can’t establish some other Common Knowledge followers who’ve been adversely affected by Defendants’ vaccination coverage,” reads the order from U.S. District Choose Dolly Gee.

The decide’s choice will be discovered right here. 

Dunbar, who performed Michael, the ex-husband of Angela Bassett’s character, on the drama collection from its inception, was abruptly was written off in November. That got here after he had requested a medical exemption and later a spiritual exemption from the Covid protocols on the present that require all actors to be vaccinated.

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Dunbar’s requests have been reviewed by Disney and have been rejected, he mentioned within the swimsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court docket.

“In retaliation, Defendants summarily terminated Mr. Dunbar’s employment settlement, and refused to pay him the lots of of hundreds of {dollars} which can be nonetheless owed to him,” the lawsuit, which references a Deadline article quite a few instances, reads. “Then, desirous to make an instance out of Mr. Dunbar, he believes that Defendants wrongfully leaked adverse data to the media about his departure from ‘9-1-1’ together with that he sought each non secular and medical exemptions that have been denied. Defendants intentionally made it sound like Mr. Dunbar was a recalcitrant anti-vaxxer, quite than current the reality – that like tens of millions of different Individuals, he’s a honest adherent to a non-mainstream non secular perception that forestalls him from being vaccinated.”

The swimsuit mentioned Dunbar is “an adherent to the teachings of the Church of Common Knowledge.”

The lawsuit claims the defendants’ actions violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the California Truthful Employment Housing Act and customary regulation ideas of contract regulation. Dunbar is in search of “over $1.3 million in compensation owed to him below the contract,” in addition to wide-ranging different damages and injunctions within the civil rights-based motion.

“On data and perception, Disney has a historical past of racial discrimination, and Mr. Dunbar was subjected to disparate remedy and disparate impression discrimination on the premise of his race,” the 45-page submitting reads. “On data and perception, non-minority staff equally located weren’t topic to termination after they refused the COVID-19 vaccine.”

Disney and twentieth Tv declined touch upon the lawsuit right now, however on the time of Dunbar’s exit mentioned in response to Deadline’s inquiry that “We take the well being and security of all of our staff very significantly, and have carried out a compulsory vaccination affirmation course of for these working in Zone A on our productions. To be able to guarantee a safer office for all, Zone A personnel who don’t affirm their vaccination standing and don’t meet the standards for exemption won’t be eligible to work.”

The swimsuit comes because the Alliance of Movement Image & Tv Producers and Hollywood’s unions together with SAG-AFTRA, the DGA, IATSE, the Teamsters and the Fundamental Crafts agreed this week to increase the trade’s Covid protocols to April 30. As a part of that deal, mandates have been additionally up to date to redefine “totally vaccinated” to incorporate booster pictures, efficient as of March 15.