Former sheriff’s deputies and corrections officers, who lost their jobs for refusing to the COVID vaccine after King County instituted a mandate, could be reinstated under measure before the County Council.
Several former deputies told the Council their families suffered great hardships, not just because of the loss of income but the loss of medical benefits, like one who says his family had no benefits when his wife had cancer and his disabled son needed surgery. They say forcing them to start the re-hire process from square one wouldn’t make up for that. A representative of the County Executive’s office says the deputies and corrections officers are all able to apply for open jobs. That means if they are re-hired, it would be as if they were new employees with no seniority and benefits and accrual rates that match those of a new hire.
Sergeant Randy Weaver with the King County Corrections Guild says they have a 20% vacancy rate, so they still have to work mandatory overtime. “If this helps us just get a couple of our experienced employees back, it helps us,” Weaver says, “Not only does it tell someone we value their employees’ years of experience, bringing them back where they left off, that also tells employees still working here ‘we value you.’”
The measure’s sponsor, Councilmember Reagan Dunn, says there’s one thing the official number of job separations doesn’t reflect. Dunn says, “A huge number of people resigned immediately before they were retired to turn in their vaccine mandate because they were going to get terminated, and they didn’t want termination on their record.” Dunn also says the King County Sheriff’s Office has a shortage of deputies at a time of record crime numbers, which he says is a big problem.
The County Executive’s rep says the Office of Labor Relations strongly objects to the bill because they say it would interfere with union negotiations on this issues.
There was no vote taken.
