WSDOT fired Donna Tegnell and many more over vaccines in 2021 – Their lawsuit is still alive as Appeals Court ponders its fate

Friday, November 22, 2024
by Jeff Noedel

“I didn’t quit. I was fired!” Donna Tegnell of Friday Harbor exclaims. “Ferguson and Inslee did this. They could have settled this. I wanted to wait and get the Novavax vaccine. Now Washington State taxpayers may get a very big bill.”

In 2021, Tegnell had been with Washington State Ferries for 17-1/2 years. Starting as a food server in the galley, she climbed up through the ranks to Chief Mate, the highest position under Captain. When the Captain was unavailable, Tegnell piloted the boat.

She was qualified to work on any and all WSF boats, all WSF routes.

On and around October 18, 2021, 358 employees of the Washington Department of Transportation (WSDOT) were fired for refusing to be vaccinated for COVID-19 under the Governor’s vaccine mandate. At the same time, 63 WSDOT employees chose to retire.

More than 60 of the fired WSDOT employees hired attorney Nathan J. Arnold, who filed a lawsuit styled Gray et al v. Washington State Department of Transportation.

That lawsuit was one of 11 Arnold filed against various government bodies across Washington. The cause listed was alleged denial of an exemption to the vaccine mandate, or special accommodations, based on religious and body autonomy grounds. All exemptions were accepted by the State, but the State said it could not accommodate the fired workers. One lawsuit was for the State Troopers. And one for Spokane firefighters. The Spokane lawsuit, styled “Bacon v. Woodward,” has been the fastest-moving case.

Filed in 2021, the Spokane lawsuit was dismissed by the district court without a trial in 2022. But in June of this year, the 9th Circuit of the U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal and remanded the case back to the district court.

The Gray et al v. Washington case (fired WSDOT employees) followed a similar track. Also filed in 2021, that case was dismissed in October 2023, two years after it was filed. And like the Spokane case, the 9th Circuit Appeals Court agreed to consider the Gray case. That appeals court hearing of oral arguments was held Tuesday in Seattle.

A recording of that hearing is below. It is very technical. For those who don’t know much about Constitutional law, at least one can observe body language.

“I feel really good about it,” Tegnell said of the hearing after watching it live online. She told SanJuans.Today, “We all feel very, very good. The judges asked a lot of questions on all sides. It seems they have an open mind,” she said.

While the lawsuit seeks damages, she said for her it’s about much more than money.

“This is on principle. I want to do all I can to be sure this cannot happen to my kids or grandkids.” She said she is fighting to ensure force will never be used this way again by the government. She said Boeing and the U.S. Post Office found ways to accommodate vaccine objections on religious and body autonomy issues, and Washington State government could have, too.

She stressed that there was a vaccine she was willing to take, but it was not yet available yet. It was still under development. In 2022, she took the Novavax vaccine. She has the vaccine card to prove it.

She became emotional when she disclosed what was her tipping point in deciding to refuse the vaccines that were available to her at the time. Her husband Jon Tegnell, a retired WSF Captain, was well into a long decline with both Parkinson’s and Muscular Dystrophy. Both were fearful that Donna could experience serious side effects from the available vaccines. She said, “Jon didn’t want me to take the shot. He said, ‘If there are complications, who will take care of me?'” Jon Tegnell died on June 24 of this year.

If the Appeals Court upholds the District Court’s dismissal, would she favor an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court? “Yes! 100 percent!” said Tegnell.

After a period of mourning and rest after Jon’s passing, Donna went back to work. She is now a contract terminal agent. She is not a direct employee of the state. Today, the woman who often piloted the boats and knows the waters of the San Juans like the back of her hand directs traffic at the Friday Harbor terminal, raises and lowers the loading ramp, and shepherds walk-on passengers onto and off the boats.

According to the CDC, in 2021, Washington ranked in the top 10 lowest death rates from COVID-19 in the U.S. In 2022, Washington had the 5th lowest death rate of all 50 states.

Below is a tourism video WSF Chief Mate Donna Tegnell appeared in for the San Juan Islands Tourism Bureau in 2018.