Former Washington State University football coach Nick Rolovich tried to make his employers pay for his firing in 2021 by filing a lawsuit that claimed the university discriminated against his religious beliefs when it terminated him that year.
Rolovich, who is Catholic, had cited those beliefs when he refused to comply with a state mandate to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
But on Tuesday a federal judge threw most of that lawsuit out of court, stating that there are “no facts” to support Rolovich’s claim that he was terminated because of his religious views.
“This Court and many others around the country have consistently found COVID-19 vaccine mandates for state employees are facially neutral and generally applicable, and terminating an employee for failing to comply with a vaccine mandate is a permissible employment action,” Judge Thomas O. Rice wrote in his ruling.
At issue was whether WSU breached Rolovich’s contract and discriminated him – and whether WSU athletic director Pat Chun violated his right to the free exercise of religion.
Rolovich, 44, recently had agreed not to oppose the dismissal of some of his lawsuit, making the judge’s formal decision easier. The judge still allowed three of Rolovich’s claims against WSU to proceed toward trial, including for breach of contract.
Rolovich had named three defendants in his lawsuit – WSU, Chun and Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who issued the mandate in August 2021 requiring all state employees to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 18, 2021.
Rolovich sought a religious exemption to the mandate but was notified of his termination by Chun that same day after the athletic department determined it couldn’t accommodate his unvaccinated status.
What did the judge rule?
Judge Rice dismissed Chun and Gov. Inslee from Rolovich’s complaint but allowed three of Rolovich’s seven counts to remain pending. Those counts are against WSU alone, including the claim for breach of contract. The judge said the latter claim required a “more complete evidentiary record” to determine whether it should be dismissed.
Regarding Inslee, the judge’s decision to dismiss the governor from the case became a formality after Rolovich’s attorney recently said in court documents that he did not oppose it.
Regarding Chun, the judge noted that the athletic director did not make the final determination regarding Rolovich’s employment – a decision that instead was made by WSU President Kirk Schulz. The judge also stated the facts didn’t support Rolovich’s claim that Chun had impermissibly interfered with the exemption review process.
“There is no indication Chun told Plaintiff he could not apply for a religious exemption or undertook actions to prevent Plaintiff from applying for the exemption,” Judge Rice wrote. “Even taking Plaintiff’s allegations of Chun’s hostility as true, the facts do not demonstrate Chun undertook actions to substantially burden Plaintiff’s practice of religion. Mere hostility is insufficient to demonstrate the level of coercion necessary to maintain a Section 1983 claim for free exercise violation.”
Rolovich’s attorney, Brian Fahling, stated in an email to USA TODAY Sports that Rolovich recently had agreed not to oppose most of the dismissals that were issued by the judge Tuesday, except his case against Chun alleging a violation of Rolovich’s free exercise of religion.
“We will decide whether to appeal the Chun dismissal, but we are pleased with Judge Rice’s ruling denying WSU’s motion to dismiss,” Fahling wrote.
What was Nick Rolovich’s case about?
Rolovich’s lawsuit stated WSU unfairly breached his contract and discriminated against him “because he acted according to his conscience, guided by his religion, in refusing to be vaccinated.”
“An individual’s exercise of religious beliefs in a decision not to be vaccinated, or take medicine, cannot lawfully serve as the basis for a just cause termination,” said his complaint, which was filed in state court in November before being moved to federal court in December.
His lawsuit even enlisted the support of former NBA guard John Stockton and a Catholic bishop, who attended a recent court hearing with him as the judge considered whether to dismiss the case.
In response, attorneys for the WSU defendants basically said Rolovich’s objections were a crock based on junk science, conspiracy theories and secular opinions instead of “any truly religious beliefs.” They said he never claimed a religious reason for his refusal to get vaccinated until he applied for a religious exemption and accommodation less than one week before the deadline.
“Rolovich’s talismanic invocation of Catholicism does not transform his vague, conscience-based vaccine objection into a cognizably religious one,” state attorneys for the WSU defendants wrote in court documents filed May 3. “That Rolovich is a ‘practicing Catholic’ and ‘cites the Catechism of the Catholic Church’ does not save his claim because (his complaint) does not connect his vaccine opposition to any Catholic practice or tenet.”
What was the religious issue?
Pope Francis and other Catholic organizations have supported COVID-19 vaccines. But some conservative Catholics have opposed them on religious grounds, believing it is tied to abortion, which they oppose. No aborted fetal cells are in those vaccines, however. The cell lines that were used to develop or test them were derived from fetal tissue from decades ago and have been used to develop other common household medicine as well.
Rolovich’s lawsuit stated that before his firing, he was “uncomfortable because he did not know how WSU would react to him sharing his religious opposition to medical research based on aborted fetal tissue, given that WSU professors have in the past publicly defended such research.”
What was Nick Rolovich seeking?
His lawsuit had sought limited damages as provided by his contract and other damages in an amount to be determined at trial.
Rolovich was fired “for cause” and had a contract that ran through June 2025. He would have been owed more than $4 million if he had been fired without cause, according to his contract. His record in two seasons at WSU was 5-6, including the COVID-shortened year of 2020.
After losing his job at WSU, Rolovich has served as an assistant coach at San Marin High School in Novato, California.
Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: bschrotenb@usatoday.com
