BREAKING: After overwhelmingly denying accommodations to staff with approved religious exemptions to the vaccine mandate - WSDOT now changes its policy to ALLOW the fortunate few they did accommodate back into office/field work. 2/ Reality is finally overtaking politics. But at what cost? The consequences of WSDOT's 2022 firings are evident in WSDOT's inability to work on #waleg transportation projects, and reduced staff capacity and service on our roads when we need it the most. washingtonpolicy.org/publications/d…

🧵1/ BLOG: New data show WSDOT overwhelmingly denied accommodations to staff with approved religious exemptions, while accommodating staff with medical exemptions *for the same job classification.* #waleg

washingtonpolicy.org/publications/d… 2/ Many employees submitted religious & medical exemptions to the vaccine, yet the vast majority of those whose exemptions were approved were fired anyway on the basis that the agency said they could not “accommodate” them.

🧵1/ BLOG on WSDOT refusing emergency snowplow help.

I spoke with two commissioners who offered additional thoughts. The most shocking came from Commissioner Cory Wright. 2/ Commissioner Wright noted he was told by a WSDOT employee that “county administration could sign a blanket declaration [that employees were vaccinated] to bypass the mandate & get these vehicles going.” He declined: “We weren’t going to sign anything that wasn’t truthful.”