Fired Employees Sue Nike, NBA Over Covid Vaccine Mandate, By Jondi

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Fired Employees Sue Nike, NBA Over Covid Vaccine Mandate

By Jondi Gumz

Two newer Omicron subvariants BQ1.1 and BQ.1 are now more pervasive than BA.5, the variant included in the new bivalent booster for this fall along with the original 2020 coronavirus, which is no longer circulating.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention reported BQ1.1 in the lead comprising 25.5%, then BQ.1, 24.2% and then BA.5, 24%.

Researchers say the new Covid-19 variants are more spreadable but there is no indication they make people sicker than their predecessors.

The U.S. is averaging 300 deaths a day, compared to 3,000 last winter when the Delta variant raged.

Santa Cruz County reports 50 Covid deaths after Omicron, compared to 225 as of Dec. 15, before Omicron.

According to CDC data, vaccinated people made up 42% of Covid deaths in January and February during the peak of the omicron surge, compared with 23% during the Delta surge in September 2021.

In June, a paper co-written by Dr. Stephanie Seneff, MIT researcher, in Food & Chemical Toxicology, reported the MRNA vaccines promote “sustained synthesis” of the spike protein, which suppresses the body’s interferon responses and impairs innate immunity.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 lawsuits have been filed across the nation challenging vaccine mandates, according to the National Law Review, with 75% against employers.

The latest is Nike, sued by three former senior employees, claiming religious discrimination, medical discrimination and battery after they lost their jobs due to Nike’s vaccination mandate. The former workers, represented by Health Freedom Defense Fund, are seeking punitive damages.

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 15 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon in Portland, alleges Nike refused to consider reasonable accommodations, even though the vaccines did not stop transmission of Covid -19 and the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s mandate that large employers require employees to get vaccinated.

The lawsuit alleges Nike fired Doug Kerkering and Hannah Thibodo because they had a “perceived disability” — their immune systems did not sufficiently protect them from Covid-19, a perceived disability protected under federal law, according to their attorney Scott Street.

The employees, who proposed testing, masking or working from home, were fired.

The third worker, Wanda Rozwadowska, applied for religious accommodation and was denied. She appealed, and Nike granted her request after the vaccine deadline date, so she was coerced into getting the shot, and suffered an autoimmune reaction so severe she could not work, according to Street.

“We want to send a loud and clear message to corporate America that their employees’ rights are not negotiable and that their employees are not disposable,” said Leslie Manookian, president of Health Freedom Defense Fund.

In October, Nike lifted its vaccine mandate, acknowledging that community spread is possible even when people are fully vaccinated.

On Nov. 12, in a lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court, longtime NBA referees Kenny Mauer, Mark Ayotte and Jason Phillips said they were fired because they declined to get vaccinated for religious reasons. They are seeking front and back pay and punitive damages.

On Nov. 11, former Washington State University SU football coach Nick Rolovich, sued the university, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee and WSU athletic director Pat Chun seeking damages after he was fired last year for refusing to get the Covid-19 vaccine. Rolovich, who is Catholic, claims discrimination against religion, wrongful withholding of wages, and loss of future income.

WSU Vice President for Marketing and Communications Phil Weiler told The Seattle Times via email that Rolovich’s lawsuit “is wholly without merit” and that the university enforced the vaccine mandate “in a fair and lawful manner.”

He told The Daily Wire host Allison Williams that he refused the vaccine because of the “lack of answers, lack of dialogue” about the effects of the vaccines and his beliefs as a Catholic.

Williams left ESPN after 10 years when ESPN mandated Covid-19 vaccines for all staff.

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education and Superintendent Faris Sabbah have until Dec. 13 to respond to a lawsuit filed by Santa Cruz County Parents United in October.

The lawsuit alleges Sabbah coerced Pajaro Valley Unified, San Lorenzo Valley Unified, Santa Cruz City Schools and private schools Twin Lakes Christian and Waldorf to punitively implement “non-binding guidance relating to masking, testing and quarantining resulting in emotional damage, discrimination, child endangerment, humiliation, learning loss, and illegal exclusion from school and sports, and harassment.”

The Santa Cruz County Office of Education reports 658,200 tests with Inspire Diagnostics.

According to the Santa Cruz Office of Education, cases in schools peaked at 4,407 on Jan. 27, and are now 188.

The 14-day positivity rate, 12.25% on January, is now 1.64%.

Santa Cruz County reports 644 active Covid cases, the first increase after declining since July, and one more death, bringing the total to 275 since the pandemic began in 2020.

The last eight deaths were people who were vaccinated, according to the county dashboard, all 65 or older with medical conditions.

The California Department of Public Health reports 12 patients hospitalized in Santa Cruz County with a positive Covid test, including two in intensive care.

Pajaro Valley Unified School District reports 118 active student cases and 25 staff cases — Aptos High: 9 student and 2 staff; Aptos Junior High: 2 students and 2 staff; Mar Vista Elementary: 4 staff: Rio Del Mar: 2 staff; Valencia: 9 students.

The very contagious BA.5 and waning immunity from vaccines boosted summertime Covid cases.

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