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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Former "General Hospital" actor Ingo Rademacher - - who was fired in 2021 after 25 years with the show for opposing the network's directive to be vaccinated against the coronavirus -- is entitled to a pretrial judgment in his favor on his religious discrimination claim, his attorneys argue in new court papers.
The 51-year-old Rademacher sued ABC in Los Angeles Superior Court in December 2021. He alleges ABC wrongfully denied him a religious exemption and used the employee mandatory vaccination policy as an excuse to fire him. The company made it look like they wanted him to stay, but claimed they could not accommodate him in order to disguise that he was being terminated for other reasons, the actor further alleges.
The actor's latest motion, filed Friday with Judge Stephen I. Goorvitch, states that although ABC required its employees get one of the coronavirus shots, Rademacher has a "sincerely held religious and moral belief and practice" that conflicted with that requirement.
"ABC knew about that belief," Rademacher's lawyers state in their court papers. "The ABC employee who evaluated Mr. Rademacher's request for an accommodation ... testified (during a deposition) that she had no reason to question the sincerity of his beliefs. But she made no effort to accommodate Mr. Rademacher's beliefs and decided to terminate his employment to avoid accommodating them."
The Disney employee had granted multiple requests for religious accommodations to ABC's COVID-19 vaccination mandate, but she denied Rademacher's accommodation request and gave him until December 5, 2021, to get the shot, Rademacher's lawyers state in their court papers.
As a result, Rademacher suffered the loss of his job due to ABC's "failure and refusal to accommodate his religious beliefs and practices," Rademacher's lawyers state in their court papers.
Rademacher had more than six months left on his contract when ABC terminated it for his failure to be vaccinated and he would have received at least $171,600 during that time, the actor's attorneys state in their court papers. Rademacher seeks that amount from ABC as part of his motion, which is scheduled to be heard March 20.
The motion does not involve any of the five other causes of action in Rademacher's suit, which include wrongful termination.
Rademacher portrayed the character of tycoon Jasper "Jax" Jacks on "General Hospital." He is a member of the board of Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica-based environmental organization.