By Libor Jany
A Los Angeles police officer who was fired in 2022 after challenging the city’s COVID-19 vaccination and testing mandate is entitled to back pay but should not get her job restored, an L.A. County judge has ruled.
L.A. County Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff said police department officials denied the former officer, Natalie Stringer, her right to respond to allegations prior to a disciplinary meeting, but the city did not violate labor laws and acted within its rights when she was terminated based on her “failure to comply with a valid condition of employment.”
Beckloff made similar findings in the cases of several other police officers and firefighters who were terminated over their vaccination status, the latest rebuff of challenges to the city’s coronavirus protocols.
Greg Yacoubian, a lawyer representing Stringer along with four other officers and two firefighters who sued the city over their vaccine protocol-related firings, said he will appeal the ruling.
The case wasn’t about the vaccine, Yacoubian argued, but rather the city forcing employees to pay for COVID testing, an employer-mandated expense, and do so under a tight deadline. In moving to quickly terminate the officers, he said, the LAPD “trampled” on their due process rights.
“They were not allowed representation, they had to make these decisions really quickly,” said Yacoubian, pointing out that the city has relaxed its vaccination rules since Stringer’s firing. “If that’s allowed, they could be told to do anything down the road. And I don’t think anyone wants a police department that has that unblinking compliance.”
Read more at: LA Times
