State Employee Union Asks Court To Delay Inslee's Vaccine Mandate

OLYMPIA, WA — A union representing more than 45,000 state employees has filed a lawsuit seeking a preliminary injunction to delay Washington's vaccine mandate, pending further bargaining. The legal challenge was filed in Thurston County just two days before hundreds gathered to protest the mandate outside the state Capitol over the weekend.

Earlier this month, Gov. Jay Inslee set an Oct. 18 deadline for state employees and health care workers to become fully vaccinated amid a delta-fueled surge in COVID-19 infections and hospitalization rates that continue to break new records. In mid-August, the governor announced the same vaccination deadline would apply to educators, teachers and other school staffers. Apart from a narrow set of medical and religious exemptions, workers that fail to comply with the orders will be out of a job.

"I'm convinced that we are at the point in this pandemic that without these vaccine requirements we will continue to be susceptible to new variants," Inslee said. "This is the right thing to do to save lines in the state of Washington."

As reported by The Seattle Times, the lawsuit filed Thursday by the Washington Federation of State Employees alleges unfair labor practices and claims the governor's office failed to "bargain in good faith." The suit argues the existing proclamation and its timeline place an "unconstitutional impairment" on the state's collective bargaining agreements, and the union cautioned that deadlines are approaching faster than they might seem.

The complaint reads in part:

"Given the proclamation's definition of 'fully vaccinated,' coupled with the required intervening time between vaccinations of some of the vaccines, for all employees, the real deadline to have the vaccine administered is at least October 4, 2021, to allow two weeks after the final shot. For at least one of the vaccines, the last day to get the first of two required shots is September 6, 2021. By those dates, which are the real 'deadlines,' the WFSE and the State would need to complete bargaining and inform employees of any changes, and only then could employees decide whether to get vaccinated and make arrangements to do so."

In a statement shared with Patch Monday, Mike Faulk, Inslee's press secretary, defended the mandate and pushed back on the claim that bargaining was done in bad faith.

"Negotiations are continuing and they're happening in good faith," Faulk said. "These vaccine requirements are necessary to protect our communities and workers from the traffic circumstances of this pandemic. The state of hospitalizations is only as bad as it is right now because not enough people are protected against the virus. The vaccine is the safest and most effective way to get the level of protection we need."

According to the Times, the state is scheduled to resume negotiations with the union on Wednesday.