WA faces spate of lawsuits from workers fired for refusing COVID vaccines [View all]
Source: The Seattle Times
Gov. Jay Inslee recently ended the COVID-19 vaccination mandate, but for some of the public workers fired for refusing to comply, the legal battle goes on.
The state is facing more than a dozen lawsuits involving at least 180 ex-employees who allege they were unjustly forced from their jobs after asserting religious or other objections to receiving the vaccines.
The plaintiffs include state troopers, nurses, psychiatrists, mental health counselors, fish biologists and bank regulators, among others. Some had decades of state service. But their careers were cut short after they declined to meet Inslee’s October 2021 deadline to get vaccinated.
In the highest-profile case, former Washington State football coach Nick Rolovich has sued the state and WSU, seeking $25 million in compensation after being fired for refusing to get a COVID vaccine. A federal judge this week dismissed Inslee and WSU athletic director Patrick Chun as defendants in the lawsuit, but left open three claims against WSU.
Read more: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/wa-faces-spate-of-lawsuits-from-workers-fired-for-refusing-covid-vaccines/
The mandate was upheld under settled caselaw, so I suspect removal will be similarly upheld.
The question, in my mind, is whether plaintiffs would prevail IF they could show there was political motivation behind the mandate.
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