Baker McKenzie successfully represented Anschutz Entertainment Group, the world's leading sports and live entertainment company, and two of its flagship venues in securing the summary dismissal of a former employee's religious discrimination claims arising out of the employee's termination for violation of the companies' COVID-19 vaccination policy.
After two years of extensive litigation, Baker McKenzie moved for summary judgment in the US District Court for the Central District of California, seeking dismissal of all five of the former employee plaintiff's claims. The plaintiff, who worked as a camera operator for live events at Crypto.com Arena and Peacock Theater, asserted that his employers failed to provide him with a religious accommodation as an alternative to vaccination in violation of state and federal law, and then wrongfully terminated his employment when he refused vaccination.
Utilizing the plaintiff’s deposition testimony and evidence from company and expert witnesses, the Baker McKenzie team successfully demonstrated that exempting plaintiff from mandatory vaccination would have posed an undue hardship and safety risk for the clients' business operations. In finding that “no reasonable jury could conclude that Defendants have not met their burden to show that accommodating Plaintiff’s beliefs would have caused an undue hardship,” the Court considered the undisputed fact that permitting the plaintiff to test for COVID-19 instead of being vaccinated would have required defendants to incur substantial expenses and heightened the risk of life-endangering COVID-19 infections for the thousands of employees, fans, athletes and others with whom plaintiff interacted while working. In light of these undisputed facts, the Court granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment.
The Baker McKenzie team was led by Robin Samuel, Remy Snead and Janice Lin.
"This win not only saves our client the disruption, risk, and expense of a trial," said Robin, "but also serves as key precedent for the many other COVID-19 vaccination cases that are making their way through courts across the US."