SEATTLE — Gov. Jay Inslee has rescinded a requirement that Washington state employees receive vaccinations for COVID-19, ending one of the strictest such mandates in the country.
Inslee made the announcement Wednesday morning, saying the state will no longer require current or prospective employees to show proof of vaccination.
In rescinding the mandate, Inslee thanked public employees for “exemplary service” during “unprecedented circumstances.”
“We have risen to the occasion during a defining moment in our history, and the measures we took helped us to achieve one of the lowest death rates in the nation,” Inslee said in a statement.
Unlike many other states that imposed vaccine requirements, Washington’s mandate did not allow workers to take regular coronavirus tests in lieu of receiving the vaccines.
While Inslee’s mandate was followed by the vast majority of government employees, more than 2,100 workers who refused to be vaccinated were fired or resigned, according to the state Office of Financial Management.
Asked if those people could be rehired, Inslee spokesperson Mike Faulk wrote in an email that the former employees “would be eligible to apply” for state jobs.
“Applications would be evaluated the same as any candidate,” Faulk wrote.
A major public employee union is hoping to get better treatment for those separated workers.
The Washington Federation of State Employees, which represents nearly 47,000 public-service workers, posted an online message to members noting that the Inslee administration is making those who lost their jobs due to the vaccine mandate “apply, interview, and openly compete” for government positions.
“We are hoping to bargain otherwise and negotiate return rights and possibly re-establish seniority, leave, etc., but the feasibility of that is still unclear,” the union wrote.
WFSE and the Inslee administration have previously clashed on implementation of the vaccine mandate, with the union pushing back when the governor sought to require COVID-19 boosters for all employees by this summer.
Instead, the state and union negotiated a contract that includes a $1,000 bonus for employees who show proof of up-to-date vaccination. Inslee is expected to sign a state budget that includes those incentives soon.
Hundreds of former state employees have filed lawsuits over their termination from state service, disputes that may take years to make their way through the courts.
State Rep. Jim Walsh, R-Aberdeen, tweeted “better late than never” in reaction to Inslee’s decision to rescind the mandate. He predicted the end of the mandate would bolster lawsuits “over the damages caused by this egregious abuse of executive power.”
Courts have previously ruled that Inslee acted within his legal and constitutional powers in imposing the mandate and other restrictions during the pandemic, citing his broad emergency powers.
More than 16,000 people in Washington have died due to COVID-19, according to the state Department of Health — one of the lowest per capita rates among the states. More than 1.1 million have died in the United States.
Inslee’s order Wednesday came after many other levels of government had dropped their own vaccine mandates.
Seattle and King County ended their vaccine requirements for employees in February.
President Joe Biden on May 1 announced he was ending the requirement for federal employees, contractors and international air travel.
Last week, the World Health Organization downgraded its assessment of the coronavirus pandemic, saying it no longer qualifies as a global emergency.
