COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement for Employees

Governor Inslee’s COVID-19 emergency orders ended Oct. 31, 2022. This means as of Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2022, proof of COVID-19 vaccination is no longer required for students and employees at Seattle Colleges.

Vaccination remains the best protection from COVID-19. King County recommends additional booster shots in alignment with the flu vaccine this fall for those who are eligible. For vaccine locations and scheduling, visit the Department of Health’s (DOH) Vaccine Locator. The DOH also offers more information on COVID-19 booster guidance. 
 

The information below is no longer applicable as of Nov. 1, 2022:

Governor Inslee has issued a proclamation that requires all State employees, including Seattle Colleges faculty, staff, and student workers, to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. The governor's proclamation requires that an employee’s proof of vaccination be verified by Seattle Colleges. After Monday, Oct. 18, 2021, employees must: 1) be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and have their vaccination status verified by HR; or 2) receive an exemption and accommodation for medical/disability reasons or reasons for a sincerely held religious belief, practice, or observance.

Exemptions & Accommodations | Frequently Asked Questions

Acceptable Forms of Proof of Vaccination

The following are acceptable forms of proof of your full vaccination status:

  • CDC COVID-19 vaccination record card (or a legible photo of the card), or 
  • Documentation of vaccination from a health care provider or electronic health record, or 
  • State immunization information system record

Review the Visual Guide to Official Washington State Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination for more information on acceptable forms of documentation.    

Privacy

The Human Resources team will be handling vaccination verification for Seattle Colleges. This information will be kept private, like all employee medical information received by Seattle Colleges.

Vaccination Verification Process

In order to verify employee’s vaccination status, HR will verify an employee's vaccination status during the onboarding process. Employees returning to work after a leave or break (e.g. part-time faculty not teaching during fall quarter) should contact their campus HR team to have their vaccination status verified.

Note: Even if you already completed the self-attestation form in ctcLink, HR still needs to visually verify your proof of vaccination or approve an exemption/accommodation

Exemptions and Accommodations

The governor’s proclamation permits Seattle Colleges to provide medical/disability-related reasonable accommodations and sincerely held religious belief accommodations to the requirements of the proclamation.

In order to facilitate this accommodation process, Seattle Colleges has created the following forms for employees to request accommodations:

Completed forms should be submitted to hr.vaccine@seattlecolleges.edu.

If your medical provider has included private health information on your disability-related reasonable accommodation form, please do not send the form via email and instead send a note to hr.vaccine@seattlecolleges.edu, and we will provide you with a secure folder to transmit your form(s).

After your completed forms are submitted, a member of the HR team will be in contact with you if additional information is required or if your accommodation request has been approved or denied. As with any accommodation process, private information submitted to HR will not be shared unless otherwise necessary or authorized.

HR will follow up via email regarding opportunities for employees to verify their vaccination status as required by the governor’s proclamation.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Click the accordion boxes below for answers to common questions regarding the requirement that all employees are vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition of employment. Please check back as more questions may be added.

The HR team can use a clear picture of your CDC vaccine card to verify your vaccination status.

HR can use the following documents to verify your vaccination status:

  • Documentation of vaccination from a health care provider or electronic health record (e.g. UW's MyChart), or 
  • State immunization information system record (e.g. Washington State's MyIR)

Additional Questions

If you have any additional questions regarding the verification or accommodation processes, please contact the HR team at hr.vaccine@seattlecolleges.edu.