Ken Mauer: former referee sues NBA over vaccine mandate / News - Basketnews.com

Former referees Ken Mauer, alongside Jason Phillips and Mark Ayotte, are suing NBA, claiming they were suspended or fired for failing to follow the NBA's COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

Credit: AFP-Scanpix Credit AFP-Scanpix

Ken Mauer is one of three former NBA referees suing the league, claiming they were suspended or fired for failing to follow the NBA's COVID-19 vaccination mandate despite requesting religious and/or medical exemptions.

"I just think it's time that people find out how ridiculous some of these reasons are for denying these exemptions. I've been a Catholic and a Christian since I was born,"Mauer told WCCO-AM 830. "I never thought that having a faith in our Lord Jesus Christ would prevent me from refereeing NBA basketball games, but it has."

According to Reuters, Mauer, Jason Phillips, and Mark Ayotte filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court in mid-November. The trio claim they lost their jobs because they refused to abide by the NBA's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, which the referees' union agreed to in 2021.

Although the mandate was lifted before the start of the 2023-23 NBA season, none of them have been reinstated.

The 67-year-old said he filed religious and medical exemptions, and both were denied. He's now accusing the NBA of questioning his religious beliefs.

"We took part in a 30-minute interview. A Jewish lawyer from the NBA office interviewed all of us for about 30 minutes, and I guess he determined if we were religious or not. That, to me, is ridiculous. Asking us questions that didn't even pertain to our religion," said Mauer.

Mauer said he doesn't support abortion and cited the misleading claim that COVID-19 vaccines are made with "aborted fetal cells," which influenced his decision not to get vaccinated.

Vineeta Sawkar, conducting the interview for WCCO, ended it after Mauer mentioned aborted fetal cells and the lawyer's Jewish faith, saying, "the religion of the attorney who questioned you is not relevant."

Mauer began his NBA refereeing career in 1986.

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