Former Washington State University football coach Nick Rolovich is appealing to get his job back after he was terminated last month for not getting vaccinated against COVID-19.
Rolovich and four assistant coaches were fired for violating a coronavirus vaccine mandate issued by Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), which required state employees to receive their vaccinations by Oct. 18. Rolovich was denied a religious exemption.
In a Tuesday filing, Rolovich's attorney encouraged university athletic director Pat Chun to "reexamine" the firing before the case is taken to federal court.
"An appeal of this sort is usually the employee’s opportunity to restate his case and plead with his employer. But we see this appeal differently," the attorney wrote to Chun in a letter according to NBC News.
"This is your opportunity to take a step back, reexamine your illegal and unconstitutional conduct, and adopt a different posture toward Coach Rolovich before you and the University are forced to defend your conduct in the context of a federal court civil rights action," the letter continued.
The letter includes allegations that Chun told Rolovich he would be terminated regardless of whether his religious exemption was approved and that Chun also said, on separate occasions, that the head coach's beliefs were "making him incapable of leading his players."
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Rolovich applied for a religious exemption on Sept. 28, and, on Oct. 6, the university's human resources determined that he was entitled to it if the athletic department came up with safety accommodations.
In an Oct. 14 document, WSU's Environmental Health and Safety department compiled a list of recommended safety procedures pertaining to COVID-19, ESPN reported. Most of these procedures were included in the coronavirus policies that had been in place for more than a year.
But after human resources determined that Rolovich had documented a "sincerely held religious belief," the athletic department issued a memo, dated Oct. 13, objecting to such a ruling.
The letter from Rolovich's attorney this week, however, stated that the athletic department concluded that it could not make accommodations, and Chun told Rolovich that he would be fired.
Rolovich's attorney said in the letter that WSU's handling of his exemption request was "rife with procedural problems and constitutional errors."
While Tuesday's appeal did not include the specific reasoning for Rolovich's religious objections, it did say that he was uncomfortable sharing with Chun "his religious opposition to medical research based on aborted fetal issue, given that WSU professors have in the past publicly defend such research."
According to university policy, Chun has 10 calendar days to review the appeal and determine whether he wishes to proceed with the termination, WSU spokesperson Phil Weiler told ESPN. If Chun chooses to uphold his initial decision to fire Rolovich, the former coach would then have another 15 days to file another appeal with university president Kirk Schulz.
Rolovich joined the university as head football coach two years ago and was under contract through 2025.
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