OLYMPIA, Wash. -- An additional 600 state and local workers have just signed on as plaintiffs to a lawsuit that seeks to overturn Gov. Jay Inslee's COVID-19 vaccination mandate, including the state fire marshal.
According to court documents, the suit includes 100 Washington State Patrol employees and others who contend that they are being denied medical exemptions to the mandate. A court hearing in Walla Walla Superior Court was scheduled for Thursday.
Lawyers for the workers were seeking to compel Inslee to be deposed but his attorneys have declined to do so.
“Plaintiff Charles Paul LeBlanc is the Fire Marshal for the State of Washington," according to the court filing. "Despite decades of service to the state, and his doctor’s orders, he is being denied a medical exemption.”
Nathan Arnold, attorney for the workers, said the exemption issue prompted the court action.
“The fire marshal was told that his medical exemption would be accepted, but there was no possible way to accommodate him,” he said. "That means the agency would not be able to provide him a COVID-safe working situation."
Other plaintiff hope the court will side with them.
“I hope that this gets overturned because this is not right moral, ethical or even in my opinion constitutional,” said WSP dispatcher Jonathan Pitts, one of the employees who was denied religious and medical exemptions with the work accommodations.
Inslee's office said it believes his order is legal.
“We hope that public servants and those who have made their careers around protecting the health and safety of the public, will choose to do the right thing and get vaccinated," the governor's office said in a written statement. "As for the lawsuit, we are confident that the governor’s proclamations are legally sound.”
William Cleary, the lead plaintiff for the lawsuit and a firefighter, hopes the governor will reconsider other options.
“The rest of us will be out of a job whereas we could still be just as safe as people that are vaccinated using the appropriate methods indicated by the CDC and the Department of Health,” he said.
The CDC guidelines include wearing masks and gloves and keeping physically distanced.
Pitts said his department can employ all of those tools and keep COVID-safe in the dispatch center.
“And the State Patrol denied that,” he said. “They couldn’t accommodate me. Got an email that said ‘I would be liable for everybody working with me that is vaccinated were I was to get them sick.’ “
He knows that he could be let go next month if the agency is unable to accommodate him.
“Then I will be terminated. I will be fired from the State Patrol if I don’t give in. This is not just something that I randomly decided to do," Pitts said. "I have a firm personal religious belief against taking the vaccine period.”
So far, the State Patrol has the accommodations for religious exemptions and released a statement saying, “We continue to look at every request individually however as we apply the guidelines provided by state health officials. We are giving our people all the information available so they can make the best possible decision regarding their own vaccination status and employment.”