BELLINGHAM, Wash. — The City of Bellingham announced yesterday, Monday, February 13th, that Mayor Seth Fleetwood would be lifting his executive order requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for city employees, volunteers and on-site indoor contractors, effective yesterday at midnight.
The vaccination order, enacted in September 2021, is rescinded effective at 11:59 p.m. Monday, February 13, 2023. It is the last remaining COVID-19 order to be removed and follows Fleetwood’s action last fall to lift his proclamation of local COVID emergency. City of Bellingham (February 13, 2023)
2 city staff, including a 28-year veteran of the police force, who were fired due to the vaccination order filed a civil lawsuit against the City of Bellingham Police Department in December of 2022. According to the complaint filed in Whatcom County Superior Court, the 2 applied for religious exemptions from the vaccination order. Error, group does not exist! Check your syntax! (ID: 11)
No meetings were held to determine if an accommodation for people of faith who hold sincere religious convictions against ingesting the COVID-19 vaccines were made. These actions show a premeditated determination to deny accommodations and a failure on the part of the City to afford employees of faith an interactive accommodation process.
Complaint for Damages filed in Whatcom County Superior Court (December 15, 2022)AdvertisementClick for more information
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The complaint goes on to state that the city accepted that the 2 employees “had sincerely held religious beliefs against the COVID-19 vaccination” but denied their requests for reasonable accommodation.
As of February 14th, the City yet to file a response to the complaint.
The lawsuit seeks “lost wages, benefits, and all other lost income” resulting from the plaintiffs’ being fired.