A former high-level employee of the Writers Guild of America West Inc. has tentatively settled his lawsuit against the organization, in which he said he was wrongfully fired for objecting to the guild’s coronavirus vaccination mandate.
Attorneys for plaintiff Scott Sawyer filed court papers Friday with Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Barbara Meiers stating that a “conditional” accord was reached and that a request for dismissal will be filed by Aug. 14.
No terms were divulged.
Filed last Oct. 31, Sawyer’s suit alleged religious discrimination, wrongful termination, harassment, failure to prevent discrimination and harassment, retaliation and age discrimination.
“WGAW failed to engage in any negotiation regarding his religious accommodation request,” the suit alleged. “Instead, WGAW ignored his request, targeted him for termination, harassed him for two months and then fired him shortly after he made the request.”
Sawyer was hired by WGAW as a business representative in June 2000 and was over the age of 40 when he was fired, according to the suit, which does not give his specific age.
WGAW’s legal department has three business representatives who investigate and evaluate WGAW member breach-of-contract claims, prepare and serve settlement demands and litigation pleadings, and work to resolve and settle claims, the suit stated.
In April 2021, a WGAW assistant executive director emailed the entire WGAW staff, announcing a policy requiring all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by June 15 of that year, according to the suit.
Two months later, Sawyer sought a religious exemption regarding the mandatory vaccination policy, but the organization never did anything more than acknowledge his request, the suit states. Instead, WGAW sent Sawyer a “jolting and disheartening formal disciplinary letter” that surprised him, criticizing his performance on two cases that had been successfully settled to the satisfaction of WGAW’s clients, the suit stated.
WGAW has a “longstanding, open, unrestrained animosity towards religion and the religious,” according to the suit, which further states that the organization put Sawyer on a 30-day probationary period.
“At every moment he was left wondering if they were … seeking to fire him and felt that his supervisors were constantly scrutinizing him and trying to create any basis for firing him,” the suit stated.
Sawyer’s supervisors harassed him with time-consuming tasks designed to overwhelm him and encourage him to quit as well as to create grounds for firing him, the suit stated.
“Despite this harassment, Mr. Sawyer worked beyond WGAW’s regular business hours and stayed up past midnight most nights and sometimes as late as 4 a.m. to complete his work and meet WGAW’s performance goals,” the suit stated.
Sawyer was at the top of the WGAW pay scale and has been unable to find a comparable job elsewhere since his November 2021 termination, according to the suit, which further states that he has suffered severe emotional and physical distress.
Sawyer also alleges that his firing was partly related to his age.