- Former ESPN reporter Allison Williams and ex-longtime producer Beth Faber alleged in a federal lawsuit that the company’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement violated their religious freedom rights.
- The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut on Wednesday against ESPN and the network’s parent company, The Walt Disney Company, seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial. The company fired Williams and Faber in late 2021.
- “Forcing [the] plaintiffs to choose between continuation of their employment and a violation of their religious beliefs in order to retain their livelihoods imposes a substantial burden on plaintiffs’ ability to conduct themselves in accordance with their sincerely held religious beliefs,” their attorney, Christopher Dunn of the firm Dunn Employment Law, wrote in the complaint.