Oregon police, firefighters sue Gov. Kate Brown over vaccination mandate

A coalition of police and firefighters are suing Gov. Kate Brown over her mandate requiring COVID-19 vaccination for state workers.

The lawsuit, filed in Jefferson County Circuit Court, says the plaintiffs are the Oregon Fraternal Order of Police along with troopers from around the state and firefighters at the Kingsley Field Air National Guard Base in Klamath County, KOIN-TV reported.

It names the governor and the state of Oregon as defendants.

The group is asking a judge to declare Brown’s executive order “unenforceable,” claiming it allegedly works against existing Oregon statutes and would result in wrongful termination of employees, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit comes after an Oregon trooper was placed on paid leave for posting an Instagram video declaring his intent to defy the state’s vaccine mandate.

“I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, to protect the freedom of the people who pay my salary,” Zachary Kowing, 29, said in the video posted to Instagram last week. “I do not work for my governor but for them.”

The order, which was announced in August as Brown reinstated an indoor mask mandate amid a surge of COVID-19 cases, requires all executive branch employees with the state of Oregon to be fully vaccinated on or before Oct. 18 or six weeks after a vaccine receives full approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. – READ MORE