When Gov. Jay Inslee’s misguided vaccine mandate ended in May, his office said there would not be an outreach effort to rehire the more than 2,000 employees lost because of the condition for employment — even with staff shortages in the state workforce. Instead, fired state workers could reapply for their former jobs or seek new careers with the state just like everyone else.
Fast-forward five months? The same executive tune is being sung, even with continued shortages and only 25.6% of Washingtonians up to date with COVID shots, as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control. However, governor spokesman Mike Faulk did say, “When agencies have vacancies to fill, hiring managers may reach out to people who in their judgment have relevant job experience and are eligible for employment.”
Thank goodness. I hope hiring forces are taking advantage of the common-sense solution to staffing shortages when they exist.
The agreement instituted a 45-day rehiring window between August 1-September 15. I’m not sure how many workers this effort gathered for the staff-troubled ferry system, but I have asked for follow-up.
I want a top-down mea culpa and olive branch extended to all who were wrongly terminated. I hope more hiring managers of state agencies are taking advantage of the hiring ability afforded them. Workers, whose employment is made possible with taxpayer dollars, were mistreated and vilified in Washington state. The least the state can do is offer them back their jobs.
It’s easy to fall down the rabbit hole looking at how many injuries or deaths are reported in the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System. I have been dismayed by the way counting and reporting COVID-19 deaths happened throughout the nation. Did a patient die “from” or “with” COVID-19? It’s complicated, but messaging from the government was far too simple. Leaders didn’t seem to care about the nuance in the numbers.
We knew that all state workers interact with people in their homes and communities, not just in workplaces. We knew that older populations, not workers, were most at risk for severe illness or death. All these knowns made the governor’s long-running mandate on employees unacceptable, misguided and litigation-worthy. Since vaccinated workers could spread and contract COVID-19, the mandate was discriminatory.
I chose to be vaccinated with the primary series, given family situations and work travel. I chose not to get boosters, given the research I did. I can only imagine losing my career over a health decision my doctor and I made. But that’s what happened to thousands of state workers and health care providers. Washingtonians need to remember this and should demand the righting of state wrongs.
For all the talk from leaders about trusting one’s provider, by the way, my primary care physician wasn’t trusted when it came to vaccination. Instead, she was fired for not being vaccinated. I wasn’t alone in losing a primary caregiver. The head of the Washington State Hospital Association said the mandate caused some hospitals added strain. Roughly 3,000 hospital workers lost their jobs.
Even if vaccines end up being able to take credit for preventing some severe illness and death from or with COVID-19, vaccine mandates on employment never could. A comparison of death rates among states with and without vaccine mandates makes that clear. Many factors are involved in good or bad COVID-19 outcomes. Crediting mandates painted an incomplete picture.
In addition to jobs lost, individual budgets harmed and state service levels that suffered because of the mandate,
–– Elizabeth Hovde is a Policy Analyst for the Washington Policy Center. She can be reached at [email protected]
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