This week, some 292 plaintiffs, many working in security at the Department of Energy’s Hanford Site in Washington, filed a new complaint in their federal lawsuit opposing government vaccine mandates.
But attorneys for the federal government replied the same day with a motion to dismiss the new complaint, saying it is little better than the one rejected in mid-December by U.S. District Court Judge Thomas Rice in Eastern Washington.
In a 110-page complaint on behalf of the Hanford holdouts, lawyers associated with the Silent Majority Foundation claim a nationwide injunction awaiting oral arguments in the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals in Atlanta, bolsters the argument for rejecting vaccinations orders by DOE and its contractors at the former plutonium production complex.
“Most or all of Contractor-Defendants have paused enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccine workplace requirement of executive Order 14042 pursuant to the nationwide injunction, and this matter seeks a declaration from this court that no enforcement of Executive Order 14042 by the Contractor-Defendants may take place so long as a nationwide injunction remains in place,” according to the revised complaint.
So, the plaintiffs asked the court to enjoin DOE’s Hanford site manager Brian Vance — along with the site’s major contractors and their top executives — from enforcing any mandatory vaccine policy at Hanford.
Assistant U.S. attorneys representing the federal government in the Hanford case said the only true harm alleged by plaintiffs in the case is the “threat” posed by potentially losing their jobs. But all have the option to pursue exemptions and many have done so.
But plaintiffs’ said exemptions or “accommodations” are tough to come by at Hanford, and come with many requirements. One plaintiff, Enrique Gonzales, is allowed to work unvaccinated but must wear a mask at all times, except when eating or drinking, social distance to the extent practical; and submit to weekly testing at his own expense.
The new complaint also cited the case of one small construction subcontractor, Ojeda Business Ventures, which was threatened with termination of its contract for having an insufficient number of its people vaccinated, even though many were shown to have COVID-19 antibodies, according to the complaint.
President Joe Biden issued the executive orders on COVID-19 vaccinations for federal workers and contractors in September. A federal task force soon drafted guidance saying federal employees and contract workers refusing to be vaccinated, and not qualifying for a religious or medical exemption, could be terminated.
Vaccination, masking and other efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 remain a top priority at the $7.5-billion DOE Office of Environmental Management as it attempts to steer more staffers back to their pre-pandemic worksites.
Over the past week, DOE cleanup operations logged a record 753 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to an office spokesperson. That represents a jump of 213 over the prior week’s already-high 540. The recent surge within the weapons complex mirrors the spread of the highly-contagious omicron variant of the virus, which was reportedly filling up hospital beds across the nation.
For its part, the DOE Office of Environmental Management, which oversees Hanford and other nuclear cleanup sites, says upwards of 90% of its federal staff and contract workforce are vaccinated.
