A former cook for Google LLC's Spruce Goose facility in Playa Vista has dropped his lawsuit against the company in which he alleged management at first gave him a religious exemption to its coronavirus vaccination mandate, then changed course and fired him in 2022 for not getting the shot.
Maurice Hall's Santa Monica Superior Court lawsuit alleged he was entitled to at least $5 million in compensatory damages, plus punitive damages. He sued for religious discrimination, failure to accommodate religious practices, harassment based on religion and retaliation for requests for religious accommodation.
On Wednesday, Hall's attorneys filed court papers with Judge Mark A. Young asking that their client's case be dismissed "with prejudice," meaning it cannot be refiled. The court papers do not indicate if a settlement was reached or if Hall is not pursuing the case for other reasons.
In their court papers, Google attorneys maintained the company did not employ Hall and that he posed a health and safety risk to others if he did not get vaccinated.
According to the suit, Hall was hired in October 2018 to work as a cook at the Spruce Goose facility, where management imposed a mandatory employee coronavirus vaccination mandate in August 2021. Receiving the COVID-19 vaccines directly opposes religious beliefs held by Hall as an evangelical Christian, so he asked that he instead be allowed to wear a face mask and gloves and submit to regular coronavirus testing, the suit filed last Feb. 21 stated.
Hall's exemption request was approved two months later, but in November 2021 management told him that his accommodation was being reviewed and ordered him to stop working pending their final decision, according to the complaint.
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"Subsequently, defendants harassed (Hall) on the basis of his religion and his requests for accommodation," according to the suit, which further stated that a supervisor repeatedly asked the plaintiff if he had changed his mind about his religious beliefs.
Hall remained off the job and was fired last March, which he attributes to his religious convictions and requests for accommodations, according to the suit, which additionally stated that the plaintiff has suffered financially and emotionally as a result of losing his job.
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