General Hospital Spoilers: Why Ingo Rademacher’s Religious Exemption Was Denied

General Hospital spoilers report Ingo Rademacher, known for his role as Jasper ‘Jax’ Jacks on the sudsy soap opera, has lost his case against ABC Disney. The actor filed a lawsuit against the enterprise in December of 2021 after he was terminated following the denial of his religious exemption from a Covid-19 vaccine mandate.

The lawsuit cited discrimination and a violation of Ingo’s rights under the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In theory, the CRA does support Ingo’s right to request a religious exemption, but there is an important lesson to be learned here — and that is that employers have rights, too.

General Hospital Spoilers — Ingo Rademacher’s Rights

Ingo filed for a religious exemption to ABC Disney’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate, and it was denied. Fans erupted on both sides of this issue when Ingo was let go from his role as Jax. They did the same for Steve Burton, who played the role of Jason Morgan. Steve’s religious exemption was also denied.

Still, this issue isn’t as black and white as many people assume it is. Federal law does enshrine religious rights, but that right does not require an employer to accept and honor a religious exemption. Rather, the employer must offer the option.

This means Ingo and Steve had the right to request a religious exemption, and to carry out that exemption through a specific process that the law outlines. But the law does not require an employer to honor that request. This is where many people can get confused.

GH Spoilers – Indicate ABC Disney Had Rights, too

Employees aren’t the only people with rights. ABC Disney has the right to put employees through something called the interactive process — which is where they can ask follow-up questions about the employee’s request.

Sometimes, the employer does this to seek clarification as the religious exemption request may have left gaps or left the employer with unknown details that they need in order to make a decision. Much of the time, employees do not understand that what they say during the interactive process may be the nail in the coffin of their religious exemption.

For example, if an employer asks an employee what the basis of their objection to the Covid-19 vaccine is, and the employee answers with any part of their response including medical concerns about the vaccine, their exemption could be denied. The law supports this.

Religious exemptions exist to protect religious rights — not anything outside of such. Some employers may even use commentary pulled from an employee’s social media accounts that paint their opinion of the vaccine as being rooted in politics or science — versus religion — against them.

It remains to be seen whether that happened to Ingo or Steve, but discovery during the lawsuit did provide that ABC Disney did honor exemptions from other employees. Furthermore, employers also have the right to deny an exemption request if honoring it would place an undue hardship on the business and its ability to function.

General Hospital Spoilers — The Mandate Has Ended — Has Ingo Rademacher’s Career Gone with It?

ABC Disney dropped their mandate in November of 2022, nearly a year after Ingo filed suit against them. In January of 2023, the company sought to have the charges against them dismissed, and they’ve since succeeded.

Fans are still torn on whether they support Ingo’s decision not to be vaccinated. But one thing has remained constant — the fans want Jax back on set. Will that happen? Rumor has it that outcome isn’t likely. Ingo asserted that he was fired based on his political beliefs more so than having anything to do with his religious exemption.

Is that true? We may never know. Many believe him, and attest that they’ve seen the same thing happen to their own friends and family during the pandemic. Others claim he’s telling tales in an attempt to salvage his own reputation. There is no word yet on whether Ingo will appeal or file a new suit more tailored to his specific grievance on the matter. Stay tuned for more GH news and spoilers just ahead