KING COUNTY, Wash. — A King County Council member introduced a motion Tuesday that would prioritize re-hiring county employees who were fired due to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
King County Council Vice Chair Reagan Dunn said deputies and other first responders fired for not complying with the vaccine mandate would be included in the motion.
The county's vaccine mandate expired on Feb. 6 after nearly two years.
“Now that vaccination requirements have been rolled back, this is our opportunity to bring back those public servants — especially our first responders, including law enforcement and emergency personnel— who lost their jobs,” Dunn said in a release. “Especially as the County continues to struggle to hire enough deputies to fully staff our Sheriff’s Office, we should focus on bringing back and retaining the high-quality, experienced employees that we very much need to fully staff our work.”
Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell and King County Executive Dow Constantine said on Feb. 6 that the vaccine mandate was dropped as a requirement because immunity has reached a high enough level to relax COVID-19 restrictions. King County's vaccine mandate was in place since mid-2021. All county and city employees, contractors and volunteers were required to show proof they received the initial COVID-19 vaccination series.
Officials said more than 98% of King County’s nearly 15,000 employees provided proof of vaccination at the time the mandate launched, along with nearly 4,000 employees hired since the mandate was instituted. Less than 2% were separated at that time due to the requirement.
According to the Department of Human Resources, 281 county employees were separated due to noncompliance with the vaccine mandate, including 33 in the King County Sheriff’s Office. As of August 2022, Dunn said 120 deputy positions remain vacant.
King County Metro had the most terminations of any department, losing 110 employees to the requirement. The agency is still working to hire nearly 40 vehicle maintenance staff and 100 bus operators, Dunn said.
Dunn said he pushed back against the vaccine mandate in 2022 because of ongoing staffing shortages at the King County Sheriff’s Office during a period of what Dunn called "record-level violent crime."
Dunn’s proposal will be heard by the King County Council’s Committee of the Whole.
At the state level, Rep. Chris Corry said there was a loss of nearly 1,900 state employees because the vaccine mandate. He is sponsoring House Bill 1814.
"What this essentially will do is allow for a hiring preference to bring back those who were previously employed by various state agencies,” said Corry. “This would allow people to regain lost pensions, sick leave and other job perks that were agreed to in our contracts with state employees.”
Rep. Corry’s proposal was recently introduced in Olympia.