An Oregon State Police car (Courtesy/Wikimedia Commons).
Most Oregon State Police employees covered under Gov. Kate Brown’s vaccine mandate were vaccinated or granted exceptions as of the Monday deadline.
Of OSP’s 1,267 employees covered under the mandate, 78% were fully vaccinated and 15% were granted exceptions as of late Monday night, a Tuesday news release from the agency said.
Among those who had exceptions approved, 96% were religious exceptions while the rest were medical exceptions.
The remaining 7% of covered OSP employees had exception requests that were awaiting review as of late Monday night, with 65% being religious exceptions and 35% being medical exceptions.
Just 0.01% of covered OSP employees are on protected leave for reasons including military service, the Oregon Family Leave Act, and the Family and Medical Leave Act as of Tuesday. Before returning to work, those employees will work with the agency’s Complex Leave Team to ensure they are also in compliance, the news release said.
As of Tuesday, the state hasn’t entered into an agreement regarding the mandate with the Oregon State Police Officer’s Association, which represents 778 OSP employees.
Eleven OSP employees who are members of the union are on administrative leave for not complying with the mandate, according to the news release.
“Those 11 OSP members are valued employees and are working through the process with our agency to determine next steps,” the news release said. “The primary goal from the onset of (the mandate) was to protect people, and this includes our valued members. Each of these members have taken steps to comply with the (mandate) and we will be working directly with them and their OSPOA leadership to remedy the situation.”
Ten OSP employees who aren’t members of the union are taking the option to either work remotely, use personal leave or take leave without pay as they go through the vaccination process, according to the news release.
Four employees — two professional staff and two sworn members — recently resigned and cited the mandate at the time they submitted their resignations, the agency said.
Joshua Wetzel, president of the association, wrote in a Tuesday press release that the union has been trying to negotiate with the state over the mandate, and the state “has been recalcitrant at best to address the concerns of our members. In particular our members are concerned about the disclosure of their personal medical and religious information.”
He referenced Oregon’s administrative agency’s inadvertent disclosure of 40,000 state employees’ individual vaccination statuses in a spreadsheet emailed Monday to The Oregonian and the Statesman-Journal.
Wetzel said the association has made numerous requests to limit the maintenance and disclosure of the information. “Our worst nightmare has been realized,” he said of the release.
Wetzel said the association has filled a grievance under its contract with the state and is exploring legal action related to the disclosure. “The Oregon State Police Officers Association remains committed to looking after its members and will take the appropriate steps to remedy this situation,” he said.
-Ardeshir Tabrizian
