On August 9, 2021, Governor Inslee issued a Proclamation mandating vaccination for healthcare providers and state employees. Yesterday, the Department of Health issued a revised FAQ document addressing issues raised by the vaccination requirement.
Working with our employment law firm (Jensen Morse Baker), WHCA is providing its members a Guidance on Religious Accommodation and the Vaccine Mandate. In addition, we are providing our members with a Request for Religious Belief Accommodation Template to help with the process. The Guidance and the Template are meant to help providers navigate the process of providing a reasonable accommodation for a sincerely held religious belief. Once an employer is put on notice that an employee has a sincerely held religious belief that conflicts with the vaccine mandate, the employer must enter into an interactive process to find a reasonable accommodation.
The term “religion” is defined quite broadly. Given the broad definition of “religion,” employers should generally not question the nature of (or logic of) an employee’s stated religious observance, practice, or belief. Employers should, therefore, tread carefully in denying any accommodation request on the grounds that the stated belief is not “religious” or “sincerely held.”
The Governor's Proclamation requires providers to document that the request for an accommodation has been made and the document must include a statement regarding the way in which the requirements of this order conflict with the religious observance, practice, or belief of the individual. Employees should be asked to provide their own written statement explaining the way in which the vaccine mandate conflicts with their own religious observance, practice, or belief. Employers should make sure to obtain and keep written documentation of the request for accommodation in order to comply with the Governor’s Proclamation.
Once an employer has confirmed and documented that the employee has a sincerely held religious observance, practice, or belief that conflicts with the vaccine mandate, the employer should evaluate each request for a reasonable accommodation on a case-by-case basis. As we all wrestle with what constitutes a reasonable accommodation of a sincerely held religious belief, the landscape of possible accommodations may become more well defined. For now, possible accommodations for employers to consider might include: (1) requiring unvaccinated employees to continue to wear PPE, or certain types of PPE that vaccinated employees do not need to wear (which should generally be provided by the employer); (2) requiring unvaccinated employees to get tested for COVID-19 on a regular basis (again, generally provided by or facilitated by the employer); and/or (3) if possible, transferring the unvaccinated employees to open, vacant positions where they will have no (or less) contact with residents, other employees and/or the general public. Employers should also remember that the interactive process for reasonable accommodations is an ongoing process, meaning that what may be a reasonable accommodation today may need to be changed or modified as circumstances change.
