Hanford workers in Washington State who unsuccessfully challenged the site’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate in federal district court are taking their case to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
A group of 317 federal and contractor employees at the Hanford Site, three of whom say they have been fired from their jobs, filed the notice in the U.S. District Court for Eastern Washington on June 10.
The Hanford employees opening brief to the Ninth Circuit is due Sept. 22 with the government’s reply brief to follow on Oct. 24, according to an appeals court schedule, a copy of which was filed with the district court Thursday.
The move is expected given that an attorney with the Silent Majority Foundation, which represents clients opposed to government vaccination mandates for the coronavirus, said last week plaintiffs planned to appeal last month’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice.
The district judge tossed out Rice the second amended complaint by David Donovan and other plaintiffs for failing to state a claim.
