A former Del Mar lifeguard filed a lawsuit in opposition to the town alleging he was discriminated in opposition to throughout the Covid-19 pandemic when the town imposed a vaccine mandate after which denied his non secular exemption request.
Johnny Seiber had been a lifeguard for the town since 2007, in response to a grievance filed March 12 in San Diego County Superior Courtroom. In November 2021, shortly after the Metropolis Council adopted a compulsory vaccination coverage for metropolis workers, he submitted a request for an exemption primarily based on his Catholic religion.
Seiber’ request was denied the following month, the grievance alleges, after which he was positioned on non-disciplinary paid administrative go away. In January 2022, after turning down a reassignment to a seasonal parking place, the town ended his employment.
Reached for remark, Seiber’s legal professional Brennan Hershey referred to the grievance:
“Defendants discriminated against Plaintiff by denying his religious accommodation while granting similar accommodations to others,” his grievance alleges, “failed to engage in good faith interactive process by offering only an unreasonable accommodation that would strip him of his benefits and pay, and ultimately terminated him for exercising his religious beliefs.”
Del Mar Metropolis Supervisor Ashley Jones mentioned by way of e-mail that the town “did consider requests for accommodations by employees based on sincerely held religious beliefs and engaged those employees in the interactive process.”
“Depending on the essential functions of a particular job classification, and if the City could reasonably and safely accommodate the request for exemption, the request would be granted,” Jones mentioned.
The town didn’t have information accessible earlier than press time about what number of workers did obtain exemptions from the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, together with for non secular causes.
A case administration convention is scheduled for October.
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