On September 4, the Washington Federation of State Employees and Gov. Inslee’s office announced that they had reached a tentative agreement on implementing the Governor’s vaccine mandate. Given that the mandate impacts working conditions and job requirements for existing employees, impact bargaining was required. This agreement could serve as a template for other jurisdictions that want to implement their own vaccine mandates or are implementing the state’s requirement on impacted employees. WFSE members voted on September 9 to ratify the agreement, with 80% of vote in favor.

As readers know, the Governor’s proclamation requires employees to be fully vaccinated by October 18 as a condition of employment. The agreement bargained by the State outlines a procedure for employees to make up their vaccine requirement if their medical or religious exemption request is denied. Employees that are denied an exemption can use up to 45 days of paid or unpaid leave to get fully vaccinated. If workers request an exemption by September 13, but the request is still under review by October 18, the worker will not lose pay until an exemption decision is reached.

The deal will also allow unvaccinated state workers to retire at the end of this year, rather than lose their jobs immediately. Unvaccinated workers that plan to leave state employment must submit retirement paperwork by October 18 in order to use accrued leave up to their official retirement date. State workers that are vaccinated will receive one extra day of personal leave that they can use at any point in 2022. The agreement also outlines the exemption application process and requires that decisions be made in a timely matter.

You can read other highlights of the agreement and the agreement itself on WFSE’s website.

The agreement comes amid increasing discussion (and speculation) about exactly how many state employees would rather leave their jobs than be vaccinated. Some agencies, like the Department of Natural Resources (which instituted its own vaccine requirement in line with the Governor’s proclamation), say they are already losing more of their critical workers (like firefighters) to COVID-19 outbreaks than they are likely to lose to a vaccine requirement. Workers in other departments, like the Department of Corrections, say the agency will likely face a personnel shortage if workers are forced to choose between their jobs and a vaccine requirement. However, the State has yet to release figures on the number of employees in various agencies that are already vaccinated, so it is difficult to know the potential impact that outgoing unvaccinated employees might have on state government services.