WSU Coach Advances Vaccine Firing Suit as Governor, AD Spared
A federal judge on Tuesday advanced claims brought by former Washington State head football coach Nick Rolovich against the university over his firing in 2021 for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19. And though Rolovich’s claims against Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and WSU athletic director Pat Chun were dismissed, the case is one step closer to a resolution.
In partially denying the university’s motion to dismiss, Judge Thomas Rice reasoned the 44-year-old coach adequately pleaded his Catholic faith “informed his decision” to not receive the vaccine. Rolovich’s faith-based objection presented a conflict between his religious belief and a state proclamation making the vaccine a condition of employment.
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While WSU contends that granting Rolovich an exemption “would have resulted in increased travel costs, harm to recruitment and fundraising efforts, and damage to WSU’s reputation and donor commitments, in addition to an increased risk of exposure to COVID-19 to student athletes and other coaching staff,” Rice deemed such an argument requires corroboration, such as from testimony and evidence.
But whether WSU and its officials will now want to share emails and texts, and answer questions under oath, is a separate matter. To the extent WSU wants closure, it could negotiate a settlement with Rolovich where the school pays him in exchange for dropping the remaining claims.
In 2020, Rolovich signed a five-year, $15.6 million contract. Had Rolovich been fired without cause, the school would have had to pay him 60% of the remaining base salary (a payment of about $3.6 million) via a liquidated damages provision.
Rolovich requested an exemption on religious grounds. As the university’s HR department considered the request, it asked Chun to weigh in. Chun, Rice explained, said his department couldn’t accommodate an exemption for Rolovich. Chun also “expressed concerns about [Rolovich’s] claimed religious beliefs.” When the school’s department of safety proposed accommodations for Chun to review, he “rejected the proposed accommodations, stating the accommodations would create an undue hardship.”
Rolovich was then fired for cause, which under his employment contract relieved the school of the obligation to pay. Rolovich’s contract explicitly required him to “abide by all provisions of law,” an expansively worded phrase that included state-issued pandemic policies. Four of Rolovich’s staff members were also dismissed.
Rolovich maintains the school violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law that prohibits employers from engaging in religious and other forms of discrimination. Rolovich acknowledges that he hadn’t previously discussed his faith with Chun. Still, he insists “advice from a Catholic priest”, “the teachings of the Church”, “study of the Bible” and “personal prayer” precluded him from receiving the vaccine. Rice stressed the burden for an employee to allege a conflict with religious beliefs “is fairly minimal” and courts have consistently “cautioned against second-guessing the reasonableness of an individual’s asserted religious beliefs.”
Rolovich depicts Chun as trying to “coerce” him into getting vaccinated, but as Rice explained, Chun benefits from qualified immunity. The legal doctrine generally shields government actors from civil damages so long as they are acting within the boundaries of their job. Rice observed that while Chun’s interactions with Rolovich may have seemed personal, Chun was operating in his capacity as the athletics director of a public university.
Rice’s ruling doesn’t mean that Rolovich will win the lawsuit. The evidence might show WSU reasonably applied a workplace policy and didn’t engage in religious discrimination.
