A federal choose dominated Monday that Washington State College was justified in firing former head soccer coach Nick Rolovich for failing to adjust to the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
The choice from Choose Thomas Rice of the U.S. District Court docket for Jap Washington comes three years after Rolovich was let go halfway by way of the 2021 season. On the time, state staff had been mandated to be vaccinated in opposition to coronavirus, a requirement later rescinded by the state.
For months, Rolovich sought a spiritual exemption from the requirement — based mostly on what the second-year coach known as his “devout” Catholic religion. His request was denied following a blind evaluation by a two-person panel.
Rolovich, who was the highest-earning state worker on the time with an annual wage of $3.2 million, then filed a lawsuit in opposition to the college. The lawsuit was set to go to trial in December, earlier than each Rolovich and the college submitted requests for Rice to decide.
Rice discovered the proof and arguments supplied by each side didn’t help Rolovich’s declare of objecting to the vaccination on non secular grounds, in line with court docket information.
“(Rolovich) frequently expressed secular concerns about the COVID-19 vaccine to friends, family members and coworkers,” Rice wrote. “In the thousands of pages of discovery, Plaintiff does not invoke a religious objection to the vaccine. This alone is a basis for denying Plaintiff’s claimed religious objection.”
Rice additionally agreed with the college’s argument that it couldn’t moderately accommodate Rolovich’s claimed non secular views with out experiencing undue hardships within the course of, together with elevated journey prices, an elevated danger of spreading COVID-19 to others, hurt to recruitment and fundraising efforts, and injury to WSU’s status.
There was “overwhelming evidence” Rolovich’s refusal to vaccinate would trigger the college undue hardship, Rice wrote.
Rolovich had a 5-6 file at WSU throughout the 2020 and 2021 seasons, with the previous significantly truncated by the pandemic. He was employed as a senior offensive assistant at California final month after spending three years away from faculty soccer.