In the run-up to the Biden administration’s release of the federal vaccine and testing mandate, AWC conducted a survey to gauge how cities implemented the first state vaccine mandates, their own vaccine mandates (if any), and their thoughts on the then-upcoming federal rule. The survey results will be used by AWC as we engage with the Governor’s Office, the Legislature, and state and federal agencies to work to ensure COVID-19 policies help cities protect the public and public employees, continue core public services, and provide the tools needed for cities to continue their work. AWC received a wide variety of responses that largely indicated widespread compliance with state and local vaccine mandates, even though implementation was sometimes challenging. Cities indicated mixed feelings on the upcoming federal vaccine mandate, with the largest response groups expressing hope that the state would not change the federal mandate to eliminate “test-outs” or apply the mandate to cities with fewer than 100 employees.

101 cities responded to the survey (about 36% of all AWC members), with large, medium, and small cities represented in the sample. The survey gathered responses from October 29 to November 8. There was also a good mix of city workforce sizes, with about 34% of respondents having 100 or more full-time employees (important for applying the federal vaccine mandate), about 40% having small workforces of fewer than 25 employees, and the remainder having more medium-sized workforces. Additionally, about 9% of cities responded that they have already implemented their own vaccine mandates, and about 33% implemented the state’s vaccine mandate with covered employees without their own city-level mandate. The remainder responded that they didn’t have any employees covered by a state or local vaccine mandate.

Exemptions, accommodations, and terminations under state and local mandates

Some cities reported that they are allowing some employees to “test out” of a vaccine requirement with weekly COVID-19 testing. A few of those cities only use testing as an accommodation for an employee with an approved exemption from the vaccine. Cities that allowed testing reported implementing the testing program in a variety of ways, including several cities covering the complete cost of testing, while others either split the cost with the employee or require the employee to cover testing costs. Cities reported a variety of cost estimates for employee testing, including $39.95 per test for rapid test results, $500-$1000 per week to bring a testing company on site to conduct tests, and utilizing free test kits provided by the county health department.

For the most part, cities that implemented the state’s or their own vaccine mandate followed a fairly standard arrangement of allowing employees to apply for a medical exemption and then requesting follow-up information from the employee’s medical provider before granting an exemption. For religious exemptions, some cities asked follow-up questions or had employees complete a follow-up questionnaire to understand the nature of the employee’s religious objection to the vaccine. Others had a panel or committee review and approve religious exemptions. Most reported that they simply followed the state’s guidance on evaluating and approving religious and medical exemption requests. Several cities stated that they handled their exemptions process under a Memorandum of Understanding that the city agreed to with their employee unions. Only 26 cities reported that they granted any exemptions from the state or local vaccine mandates.

Twenty cities did report having to terminate some employees as a result of vaccine mandates. One city (which also reported having more than 100 employees) expected to let go as many as 16 employees as a result of vaccine mandates, which was the highest number of potential terminations reported. However, only two other cities (both with large workforces with 100+ employees) reported more than three employees being terminated over vaccine mandates. Since most cities were merely enforcing the state vaccine mandate for certain departments rather than city-wide, cities unsurprisingly listed their fire/emergency services (20 cities reporting) as having been most impacted by employees leaving followed by public works/utilities (nine), police (seven), and parks & recreation (six) departments.

Federal mandate and the future of vaccine policy

AWC’s survey also asked cities their thoughts about the then-upcoming federal vaccine and testing mandate. We asked cities for their opinion on the state retaining the federal mandate’s “test-out” option to allow regular COVID-19 testing as an alternative to vaccination. 59% of cities said that since they had fewer than 100 employees, they would likely not be subject to the federal employer mandate. About 23% of cities reported that they would prefer the state to keep the test-out option for employees. Only about 9% reported that they would prefer the state to remove the test-out option.

We also asked cities’ thoughts on the possibility of the state lowering the employee-count threshold of the federal mandate to require jurisdictions with fewer than 100 employees to have a vaccine mandate. 49% of cities said they did not want to see the employee threshold lowered. 19% said that the mandate should be lowered to apply to employers with fewer than 100 employees. About 32% responded “other,” with most “other” responses saying their city did not have a position on the issue or lacked consensus to offer an opinion.

AWC ended the survey by asking cities to include any other vaccine policy information that they thought would be useful. Forty-one cities responded to the question, giving a variety of thoughts on the subject. Some speculated on the number of employees they would expect to lose if a vaccine mandate were required of smaller cities. Several said that they were concerned about the cost and supply chains for testing if the federal test-out option were allowed, as well as the record-keeping logistics that might be required. One mentioned that vaccine mandates should be a state or federal prerogative, so there would be uniform policy across the state. Finally, a few cities voiced their opposition to any vaccine mandates.

Recently a federal district court blocked implementation of the federal vaccine mandate. The case has been consolidated with other legal challenges around the country and has been assigned to the 6^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for a hearing and ruling on the legality of implementing the requirement. It is still possible that Gov. Inslee could adopt similar requirements for Washington without the federal mandate, but current indications are that the Governor will wait to see the outcome of the federal mandate. Prior to the legal challenges, employers with more than 100 employees would have had to comply with the requirements by January 4, 2022.