After enacting a mandate requiring all state and county employees to be vaccinated, or subjected to regular COVID-19 testing, Gov. David Ige (D) now finds himself the target of lawsuits by the workers he had hoped to protect.
A Hawaii News Now report noted that the requirements give employees the option of proving vaccination status or submitting to weekly COVID-19 testing, which they must pay for. Workers were to be required to prove their vaccination status by Aug. 16. Failure to comply could result in termination, and Ige pointed to rising COVID-19 case numbers driving his decision.
“The number of cases and hospitalizations are all trending up dramatically,” Ige said, according to Hawaii News Now. “The highly contagious delta variant creates a big risk of infection.”
Now, first responders in the state are fighting back, filing a class-action lawsuit against Honolulu and Maui counties, claiming that the vaccine mandate violates their constitutional rights. Attorney Michael Green told Hawaii News Now that he’s also fielded a number of calls from people who oppose the mask mandates imposed by Ige.
“This might be the most important case that I ever handle,” Green told Hawaii News Now.
In addition to claiming that the law violates their constitutional rights, workers also maintain that the state shouldn’t be able to determine when to grant exemptions based on religion because that is a personal issue and shouldn’t be a determining factor in the mandate. KITV4 also reported that Ige didn’t discuss the mandate with unions or give them any chance to provide feedback.
“The knee-jerk reaction of our governor and our mayors has caused incredible concern with our unions,” Green told KITV4.
Ige noted that as COVID-19 cases continue to spike, the mandates are needed to head off potential strain on the state’s health care system and that the policy would help ensure the health and safety of state employees.
According to KITV4, more than 1,200 first responders initially joined the lawsuit against Honolulu and Maui counties. After news of the lawsuit was aired, an additional 800 city workers inquired about joining the lawsuit, and Green is now teaming up with attorneys Shawn Luiz and Kristina Coccaro.
The KITV4 report also noted that the attorneys have received a large number of requests from the private sector asking about adding additional class-action lawsuits.