LOS ANGELES (CNS) — More than 20 school law enforcement officers who are suing Los Angeles Unified, alleging they were either wrongfully fired or face termination despite filing for religious exemptions to the district’s mandatory employee coronavirus vaccination mandate, want a judge to order the mandate rescinded because they maintain it is no longer needed.
The plaintiffs in the Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit are a mix of school safety officers, police officers, police detectives, senior police officers, a lieutenant, a sergeant and a school safety officer sergeant. The plaintiffs seek compensatory damages as well as reinstatement to their previous positions if they were fired.
In their court papers, LAUSD attorneys maintain the plaintiffs’ causes of action are barred by the statute of limitations and that their lawsuit should be dismissed.
In August 2020, the district adopted a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy for all employees, including the plaintiffs, requiring all workers to be vaccinated by a deadline date or face being fired. In court papers filed Wednesday with Judge Jill Feeney, the plaintiffs are asking for a preliminary injunction directing the district to rescind the vaccination mandate.
“The act complained of by (the) plaintiffs is the flagrant and continued implementation of a COVID vaccine mandate initially put in place in accordance with state and county health orders that are no longer in place,” the plaintiffs’ lawyers argue in their court papers brought in advance of a scheduled Aug. 16 hearing on the issue.
“The medical consensus at this point in time is that being vaccinated against COVID-19 does not preclude one from acquiring COVID-19, but rather lessens the symptoms for the unvaccinated,” the suit filed in January 2022 states. “The district disregarded, out of hand, all religious beliefs, and enforced their policy to the detriment of the plaintiffs,” the suit alleges.
The previous LAUSD policy before the vaccination mandate required all students and employees to test every week, mask indoors and outdoors and socially distance, a regimen likely acceptable to 99% of all other Los Angeles County employers, the suit states.
“These were acceptable, successful, working accommodations for employees for the past two years, since the start of the pandemic,” the suit states. “To that end, they were acceptable, successful, working conditions, and remain today as such, for almost every other employer in Los Angeles County.
The plaintiffs are Jose Cardenas, Shawn Workman, Angel Frias, Jared Gilmore, Juan Romo, Leopoldo Gil, Aaron Gray, Marc Salazar, Sergio Salas, Branden Hamada, Harold Salazar, Clifford Herrera, Sally Moctezuma, Andrea Magana, Jose Avalos, Donyann Morgan, Christopher Moreno, Shaun Luciano, Cheron Bartee, Melanie Guevara, Timothy Chavez and Jose Rios.
Each plaintiff submitted to the district a request for an exemption and accommodation from the district’s vaccination policy and provided the requested supporting information and documentation, but each request was denied by the district “in summary fashion,” the suit states. “The so-called interactive meetings to discuss whether each plaintiff was entitled to an exemption and an accommodation each lasted approximately 15 minutes in total.”
Some plaintiffs gave in and obtained the vaccination because they could not afford to lose their job and still support their family, so they are suing because they were coerced to waive and give up their rights, the suit states.
Other plaintiffs were fired and still more are on medical leave, but have been told that they will be terminated when they return if they are still unvaccinated, according to the suit.