Politics & Government
King County Lost 290 Public Employees Over Vaccine Mandate
In a final update shared Thursday, officials said more than 98 percent of workers employed by the county provided proof of vaccination.
KING COUNTY, WA — A county-level mandate requiring King County employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive an accommodation ultimately resulted in the departure of 290 employees, the executive's office announced Thursday.
Officials said more than 98 percent of the county's 14,806 public employees complied with the mandate after it took effect in October, and accommodations were found for 83 workers who sought exemptions. At the deadline, up to 450 workers faced potential termination.
According to King County Executive Dow Constantine's office, fewer than 2 percent of the county's workforce refused to comply with the order and eventually faced termination. King County Metro saw the highest number of departures, losing 103 of its 5,191 employees, including 51 bus drivers. The King County Sheriff's Office lost 51 employees, including three dozen deputies and seven sergeants, and the Department of Natural Resources and Parks lost 50 employees.
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The executive's office and King County Elections saw no departures.
Here is a breakdown of the vaccine mandate terminations from King County:
Find out what's happening in Seattlefor free with the latest updates from Patch.
- Department of Adult & Juvenile Detention
- Total employees in October: 827
- Accommodations: 0
- Terminations: 15
- Department of Community and Human Services
- Total employees in October: 537
- Accommodations: 2
- Terminations: 6
- Department of Executive Services
- Total employees in October: 891
- Accommodations: 5
- Terminations: 14
- Department of Human Resources
- Total employees in October: 156
- Accommodations: 4
- Terminations: 1
- Department of Judicial Administration
- Total employees in October: 215
- Accommodations: 1
- Terminations: 2
- Department of Local Services
- Total employees in October: 511
- Accommodations: 6
- Terminations: 16
- Department of Natural Resources and Parks
- Total employees in October: 2,033
- Accommodations: 15
- Terminations: 50
- Department of Assessments
- Total employees in October: 205
- Accommodations: 8
- Terminations: 2
- Department of Public Defense
- Total employees in October: 403
- Accommodations: 0
- Terminations: 4
- Department of Public Health
- Total employees in October: 1,966
- Accommodations: 15
- Terminations: 25
- Executive Department
- Total employees in October: 141
- Accommodations: 1
- Terminations: 0
- King County Elections
- Total employees in October: 169
- Accommodations: 1
- Terminations: 0
- Information Technology
- Total employees in October: 468
- Accommodations: 14
- Terminations: 1 (+1 pending)
- King County Sheriff's Office
- Total employees in October: 1,093
- Accommodations: 2
- Terminations: 51
- King County Metro
- Total employees in October: 5,191
- Accommodations: 9
- Terminatins: 103
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