Three Walt Disney World workers who were fired because they refused to wear face masks or get the COVID-19 vaccine due to religious reasons slapped the Florida theme park with a lawsuit. filed in Osceola County on June 29 that the Mouse House discriminated against them by not accommodating their requests to be exempt from the company’s COVID mandates, which required vaccines and facial coverings.
Disney World suspended its vaccine mandate for workers in November 2021 to comply with legislation by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and fellow lawmakers that limited the power of bosses to force employees to be vaccinated. The theme park lifted mask mandates for vaccinated workers in April. Barbara Andreas, one of the fired Disney employees, said wearing facial coverings was an “affront” to her Christian beliefs.
The suit said that Andreas, who had worked for Disney for 17 years, had sought a religious exemption, claiming that wearing a facial covering was an “affront” to her Christian beliefs.