WENATCHEE — A Douglas County Superior Court judge ruled on Friday to dismiss a lawsuit filed by more than 100 former employees who lost their jobs when Confluence Health enforced the state’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
In October 2021, Confluence Health — the region’s largest health care system — enforced the state’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers, resulting in 23 resignations, 138 rejected exempted applications and 229 approved exemption applications.
Brian Huber
Douglas County Superior Court judge
The lawsuit, filed in April, alleged that Confluence Health wrongly fired its employees after not accommodating religious or medical exemptions.
Judge Brian Huber said in his decision that the court would need to dismiss the plaintiff’s claim due to a “failure to plead the element of clarity” as they “likely did not identify a clear mandate of public policy in Washington that ‘remove(d) all impediments’ to not getting vaccinated.”
The accommodations Confluence Health provided for employees were either to take a 12-week leave of absence or work from home. Steve Lacy, attorney for the plaintiffs, argued Confluence Health could have provided different accommodations like accepting his clients’ natural immunity to COVID-19.
Steve Lacy
East Wenatchee attorney
Lacy also argued that Confluence Health saw its unvaccinated employees as having a “perceived disability” and were discriminated for it.
The judge disagreed on these points.
“Plaintiffs have not identified a clear mandate of public policy that supports their claim for wrongful discharge. Additionally, being unvaccinated is not, as a matter of law, a disability,” Huber wrote in his decision. “All of Plaintiffs’ claims are dismissed with prejudice.”
When reached for comment Friday afternoon, Lacy said he’s considering whether to appeal Huber’s decision.
“I’ll meet with my clients and we’ll weigh our options and we’ll act accordingly,” Lacy said. “I assume this will go further up the appellate ladder.”
He noted there’s “an issue or two” in the case that wasn’t resolved in the decision, but declined to offer further details and said he’d discuss it with Huber.
Dr. Andrew Jones
CEO, Confluence Health
In an email, Confluence Health CEO Dr. Andrew Jones said he was “thankful” for Huber’s ruling.
“While many aspects of this case touch on very personal decisions, we at Confluence Health have always striven to not only abide by the legal requirements and guidance from government authorities, but also to do what is best for the health and wellbeing of our patients, staff, providers, and the communities we serve,” Jones said.
World reporter Pete O’Cain contributed to this report.
