County Workers Sue Over Vaccine Mandate As Friday Deadline Looms

LOS ANGELES, CA — One week before the county's looming deadline for employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19, five Los Angeles County employees filed a lawsuit, alleging the mandate is unconstitutional. The employees, which include a sheriff's deputy, a sanitation and probation worker and even a public health department staffer contend thousands of county employees are prepared to risk their jobs rather than get the coronavirus vaccine by the end of the week.

"They will risk their jobs rather than violate their conscience and follow a plainly unlawful order," the suit states. "County residents cannot afford to lose thousands of public employees on a whim. They would be unable to obtain critical public services, including social services that kids and families depend on."

None of the plaintiffs — Sheriff's Department employees Vincent Tsai and Oscar Rodriguez; Probation Department worker Enrique Iribe; Sanitation Department employee Mohamed Bina; and Department of Public Health worker Shayne Lamont — has complied with the vaccine order, the suit states.

Filed on Friday, the five workers are suing the county, which passed a law in August requiring county workers to be vaccinated by this Friday or risk termination. The county employs 110,000 people, and the vast majority of them are already vaccinated against the coronavirus.

A representative for the county issued a statement Monday night regarding the suit brought Friday.

"While we cannot comment on pending litigation ... Los Angeles County is the largest municipal workforce in the nation and we are encouraged that more than 80% of our employees have already registered their vaccination status," the statement read.

The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit also alleges the directive exceeds the county's power under the Emergency Services Act and was implemented during proceedings that violated the state's open-meeting law.

Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Hilda Solis issued an executive order on Aug. 4 requiring the county's 110,000 employees to provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 by Friday, with exemptions for medical and religious reasons. The Board of Supervisors ratified her order six days later, making it official county policy.

"The county must consider and offer reasonable accommodations as a middle ground between individual freedoms and collective rights," the suit states. "It did not do that. Instead, it viewed this sensitive personal issue through the lens of partisan politics."

The county "cannot just get rid of the unvaccinated employees who Ms. Solis chastised for not doing their part to end the pandemic," the suit states. "It will have to provide ... hearings to everybody. It will have to justify each adverse employment action. This will cost an enormous amount of time and money, as thousands of county employees have either chosen not to take the COVID-19 shots.

"The people of Los Angeles will suffer irreparable harm from the mass termination of county employees, including firefighters, law enforcement, EMTs and other first responders," the suit further alleges.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.