BAKER CITY — Five state employees, four of whom work at the Powder River Correctional Facility in Baker City, have filed a lawsuit challenging Gov. Kate Brown’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate.

Attorney Jon Jacob Conde with the firm Stunz, Fonda, Kiyuna, & Horton, LLP, in Nyssa, filed the lawsuit Oct. 20 in Baker County Circuit Court on behalf of the corrections workers.

In an Oct. 22 filing, Ellen Rosenblum, Oregon attorney general, said the case is being transferred to U.S. District Court in Pendleton.

The plaintiffs are Yeni Arteaga, Shawn D. Delve, James A. Klusmier and Justin A. Phlaum, all of whom work at Powder River, and Kelcie Cathleen Wiley, who works at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario.

The plaintiffs contend the governor’s mandate, which she announced in August and which took effect for some public employees on Oct. 18, violates both the Oregon and U.S. constitutions.

The plaintiffs are asking a judge to issue an injunction barring the state from enforcing the governor’s mandate while the lawsuit is pending.

Three of the plaintiffs say they have previously been infected with COVID-19, and thus they have natural immunity even though they’re not vaccinated.

The lawsuit is the latest of several legal challenges to Brown’s vaccine mandate.

State or federal judges have so far made six rulings rejecting requests for injunctions temporarily stopping the mandate from taking effect. None of the challenges has been upheld.

Most recently, U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken last week rejected a motion from seven state workers, all of whom have been infected with COVID-19, seeking a temporary restraining order from the mandate.

Aiken ruled the U.S. Constitution offers no fundamental right to refuse a vaccination and that the mandated shots are in the state’s interest to stem the spread of disease and protect Oregon’s citizens, The Oregonian/OregonLive reported.

The plaintiffs in that case also raised the issue of natural immunity due to their prior infection.

But Aiken ruled that unvaccinated workers should not be exempt from the mandate even if they have already been infected.

Dr. Melissa Sutton, medical director of respiratory viral pathogens for the Oregon Health Authority, wrote to the judge that immunity from natural infection is “not as durable or reliable as the protection” from vaccines.

The lawsuit filed in Baker County Circuit Court challenges that contention, noting the mandate “ignores cases of natural immunity in individuals.”

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed in Baker County Circuit Court:

• Arteaga lives in Baker County and has worked as a food service coordinator at Powder River for six years.

According to the lawsuit, Arteaga is pregnant and has declined to be vaccinated “because she has a family history of circulation issues and feels the vaccine has not been sufficiently tested in laboratory or other settings to understand potential long-term side effects.”

In an Oct. 18 declaration included with the lawsuit, Arteaga wrote: “Fear of losing my job has been taking its toll on my body, and has been mentally and emotionally taxing. I have been struggling to deal with stress, to eat, and adequate sleep. If I am fired for not having the vaccine, I will lose my medical benefits prior to the birth of my child.”

In a message to the Baker City Herald on Wednesday, Oct. 27, Arteaga wrote she was tested for the first time a couple days ago when she was admitted to the hospital due to her pregnancy, and the test was negative.

“Even though I have my own beliefs to not take the vaccine I respect other people’s beliefs to take it,” Arteaga wrote. “I truly believe it affects people different but I’m currently pregnant and was sick to my stomach when I found out how they actually tested for safety on pregnancy.”

• Delve, 28, lives in Baker County and is a correctional lieutenant at Powder River who has previously been infected with COVID-19.

“Lt. Delve objects to being forced to vaccinate as a condition of his employment as it violates his conscience and personal freedoms,” according to the lawsuit.

In an Oct. 7 declaration included with the lawsuit, Delve wrote: “I contracted COVID-19 in January of 2021 while working as a Correctional Sergeant. I believe this mandate will cause harm first as the potential for bodily harm and damage to my person as a young and healthy 28 year old who experienced fewer symptoms than a regular cold during my infection period of having the virus.”

• Klusmier lives in John Day and has worked for five years, part-time, as a dentist at Powder River. He has been infected with COVID-19 and “would likely have natural immunity,” according to the lawsuit.

Klusmier, in an Oct. 7 declaration included with the lawsuit, wrote: “I have had COVID-19 previously. I have concerns about taking a vaccine for a disease I already had, including possible side effects such as Myocarditis etc. Loss of this job will mean a loss of 50 percent of my families income. Forcing me to choose between my conscience and my employment is wrong and I believe to be unethical.”

• Phlaum lives in Baker County and has worked as a food service coordinator at Powder River for nine years.

“He is concerned that the new COVID vaccines have not been tested properly, and also objects to taking any vaccine that has been made or uses fetal tissue, of which the current COVID vaccines makes use,” according to the lawsuit.

In an Oct. 7 declaration included with the lawsuit, Phlaum wrote: “I believe in bodily autonomy and I believe that I should get (have the right) to choose what is pushed into my body. I work in a facility where Hepatitis B, tuberculosis and even syphilis is around me, and I have never been mandated to get those vaccines. I provide for a family of six. If I lose my job, I do not know what I will do for employment in the future.”

• Wiley lives in Payette County, Idaho, and has worked at the Snake River Correctional Institution in Ontario for four years.

“She is a breastfeeding mother and chooses not to vaccine due to concerns of passing the untested vaccine to her small child,” according to the lawsuit.

Wiley has previously been infected with COVID-19 “and her body has already developed antibodies,” according to the lawsuit.

In an Oct. 18 declaration included with the lawsuit, Wiley wrote: “I have contracted COVID when I was weeks pregnant with my son. There are more and more studies that have shown that natural immunity should be taken into consideration when it comes to choosing to be vaccinated or not. This situation has caused myself, my husband, and our family stress, physical, mental and emotional harm.”