Former lifeguard sues California city for rejecting his Covid-19 vaccine exemption

A former Del Mar lifeguard filed a lawsuit against the city alleging he was discriminated against during the Covid-19 pandemic when the city imposed a vaccine mandate and then denied his religious exemption request.

Johnny Seiber had been a lifeguard for the city since 2007, according to a complaint filed March 12 in San Diego County Superior Court. In November 2021, shortly after the City Council adopted a mandatory vaccination policy for city employees, he submitted a request for an exemption based on his Catholic faith.

Seiber’ request was denied the next month, the complaint alleges, and then he was placed on non-disciplinary paid administrative leave. In January 2022, after turning down a reassignment to a seasonal parking position, the city ended his employment.

Reached for comment, Seiber’s attorney Brennan Hershey referred to the complaint:

“Defendants discriminated against Plaintiff by denying his religious accommodation while granting similar accommodations to others,” his complaint 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 City Manager Ashley Jones said via email that the city “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 said.

The city did not have data available before press time about how many employees did receive exemptions from the Covid-19 vaccine mandate, including for religious reasons.

A case management conference is scheduled for October.