Washington state workers largely comply with Monday’s vaccine deadline, data show
A check of several state agencies and area colleges show that Washington state workers have largely complied ahead of a statewide deadline to be vaccinated or have an employer approved medical or religious exemption.
Gov. Jay Inslee’s office on Thursday said the Monday deadline for state employee verification is firm and would not be extended, The Olympian reported.
More than 90 percent of state workers have received the COVID-19 vaccine, Inslee said.
Here’s what several area state agencies and colleges are reporting
Washington State Department of Corrections
About 91% of all staff at the state Department of Corrections have turned in their vaccination cards as of Thursday, DOC Secretary Cheryl Strange said.
“We are super encouraged by the numbers we are seeing in the number of vaccinated staff that have turned in their cards,” Strange said. “At this point, we are planning for normal operations.”
Strange shared the percentage during a press conference Friday morning.
She said 502 out of 8,900 employees across all divisions may be separating as of Friday. However, she cautioned that the situation remains fluid.
“Some people are waiting for the last minute to turn those cards in, so we’re hopeful with those numbers,” Strange said. “I expect more to come in today or the weekend and Monday.”
She said Clallam Bay Corrections Center and the Washington State Penitentiary are two facilities leadership is watching closely with respect to separations.
“We have staff that are ready to move and go to where their work is needed,” Strange said. “There’s two options, right? You either move staff or you move people in our care and custody. We make those decisions rather independently.”
She said about 3% of their workforce is being accommodated in some way or is on some type of protected leave such as military duty or family medical leave.
People with accommodations would be removed from direct contact with the incarcerated population, assistant secretary of prisons Michael Oberland said.
Depending on the situation on Monday, Strange said she may ask Gov. Jay Inslee to issue a proclamation, temporarily pausing the transfer of individuals from jails to DOC facilities.
“It is not so much because of contingency planning or because we don’t have staff,” Strange said. “It is to freeze movement for a minute so that we can let some folks settle and keep COVID from penetrating the department with change coming.”
As of Thursday, Strange said the DOC has approved 81 out of 91 medical accommodation requests. She added they are still processing the remaining 10.
As for religious accommodations, she said there have been about 600 such requests. About half of those are being accommodated or individuals are on some sort of protected leave, she said.
An earlier, Oct. 11 report indicated about 90.6% of the state Department of Corrections’ 2,616 workers at its headquarters have been vaccinated.
Factoring out approved accommodations, about 92.8% of 2,553 workers have been vaccinated, per the report.
Notably, the report indicates Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Littlerock had a 123 workforce that was 86.2% vaccinated.
Just two people had approved accommodations at this facility as of Monday, according to the report.
Of the 16 workers that have requested religious exemptions, the report indicates eight have been approved and an equal amount have been denied. Cedar Creek has only approved one medical exemption and denied another, per the report.
Meanwhile, about 87.5% of 529 workers at Stafford Creek Corrections Center in Aberdeen have been vaccinated. The report says only two people had approved accommodations at this facility.
Stafford Creek has received 33 religious exemption requests, per the report. Nine have been closed or withdrawn and 24 have been approved.
The facility has approved four medical exemptions and one remains pending as of Monday, according to the report.
Washington Corrections Center in Shelton had 89.7% of 629 workers had been vaccinated as of Monday, per the report. Only two other workers had approved accommodations at this facility.
For this facility, the report indicates there have been 31 requests for religious exemptions — 20 of which have been approved and 11 have been closed or withdrawn.
Medical exemption requests number just six at this facility, according to the report. Two remained pending as of Monday, two have been approved and two have been closed or withdrawn.
The correctional facility with the lowest vaccination rate as of Monday was Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla at 84.7%, per the report.
Meanwhile, the report says Mission Creek Corrections Center in Belfair held onto the highest vaccination rate at 91.9% as of Monday.
Washington State Department of Transportation
The state Department of Transportation reported having 6,800 employees as of Oct. 11. About 90.5% of DOT employees have validated vaccinations or approved exemptions and associated accommodations.
More specifically, the department has received 569 total religious exemption requests and approved 450 as of Oct. 11, according to data from the Office of Financial Management. The department also approved 44 associated accommodation requests and denied 414.
The department also received 84 total medical exemption requests and approved 78, as well as approved 40 accommodation requests and denied nine.
Kris Rietmann Abrudan, communications director for DOT, said it’s hard to speculate or project how many employees will be lost due to the mandate. She said the department is seeing people validate their vaccination status or exemption every day and that they will probably continue seeing that until the deadline.
Washington State Department of Health
The state Department of Health reported having 2,623 employees as of Oct. 11, according to data from the Office of Financial Management. As of that date, 90.28% of staff have been vaccinated.
The department has received 148 religious exemption requests so far, and 112 have been approved and three denied. Seventy-four religious accommodations have been approved and three have been denied. There have been 16 medical exemptions approved so far and zero denied, as well as eight medical accommodations approved and five denied.
Washington State Patrol
Washington State Patrol reported 88.5% of its 2,184 workforce have been vaccinated, according to an Oct. 11 report. Factoring out approved accommodations, 89.9% of 2,149 workers have been vaccinated, per the report.
WSP spokesman Chris Loftis said the vaccination rate has been gradually improving this week but declined to share a more updated tally until after the deadline passes.
Of the 381 workers that have requested religious exemptions, the report indicates 354 have been approved, 22 have been closed or withdrawn and 5 remain pending. No such requests have been denied.
However, 336 accommodations requests for religious reasons have been denied while just 18 have been approved, per the report.
For medical exemptions, the report shows 47 out of 62 requests have been approved. Twelve have been denied and three remain pending. WSP has approved 17 requests for medical accommodations and denied 17, according to the report. Six such requests remain pending.
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries
As of Monday October 11, 87.23% of the Department of Labor & Industries 3,101 employees have been vaccinated. Just 158 employees have been approved for exemption accommodations.
According to spokesman Tim Church, the number of employees who have not communicated their vaccination or exemption status continues to drop daily.
“At this point we have fewer than 100 people who may lose their jobs related to the mandate — 29 who have not reported their vaccination status, 50 who we have been unable to accommodate in their current positions, 18 who have told us they are resigning or retiring,” Church said Friday.
“However, we hope and believe those numbers will drop further before the deadline on Monday,” he said.
Washington State Department of Enterprise Services
As of Monday October 11, 90.03% of the Department of Enterprise Services’ 732 employees had been vaccinated and no employees had been approved for accommodations.
A number of employees have been sent “separation notices,” but they will still have an opportunity to keep their jobs, according to DES spokeswoman Linda Kent.
The Evergreen State College
Evergreen was an early adopter for an across-the-board vaccine requirement, the college announced on Thursday, and it resulted in the following: 100 percent of faculty, and close to 97 percent of staff, have provided proof of vaccine or an approved religious or medical exemption.
According to college spokeswoman Kelly Von Holtz, the three percent of staff members who haven’t yet complied with the vaccine mandate can be broken down to the following: One employee, who will not be fully vaccinated until after Monday, will be using leave without pay until they become fully vaccinated. An additional employee, who is on extended medical leave, has been notified they need to provide vaccination documentation prior to their return to work.
The college is awaiting data on two new employees and one new volunteer, Von Holtz said.
“We had a total of eight staff who requested religious or medical exemption requests,” she said. “Seven of those were approved for reasonable accommodation plans. One staff member refused the reasonable accommodation and will be separated on Monday.”
South Puget Sound Community College
The college has 448 full-time employees, faculty, and adjunct faculty. In addition to the 425 employees who are fully vaccinated, three are in the process of becoming fully vaccinated and 19 have approved exemptions, the college announced.
That brings the total to 447.
“Unfortunately, barring any last minute exemption requests, we will be losing one full-time staff member from this,” spokeswoman Kelly Green said Friday. “We are incredibly grateful to all of the employees who worked through this process with us and we are thankful that our students won’t see any mid-quarter disruptions from this.”
Reporter Rolf Boone also contributed to this report.
This story was originally published October 17, 2021 at 5:45 AM.
