An executive order requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for all county workers has been ratified by the County Board of Supervisors despite vocal opposition from the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS).
"Our membership has been going through a great deal of anxiety, anger, and confusion due to Supervisor Hilda Solis’ tweeted executive order calling for mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations," said ALADS President James Wheeler in a statement online. "The Board of Supervisors subsequently ratified her poorly considered order and issued a mandate with an impossible deadline for compliance, with no systems in place and no realistic plan for implementation."
ALADS represents some 7,900 deputy sheriffs and district attorney investigators working in Los Angeles County.
"Instead of working on a viable solution, another Supervisor, whose name sounds a lot like 'Sheila Kuehl,' said she looked forward to firing deputies who do not comply with the mandate," Wheeler stated. "This type of despicable, anti-labor grandstanding is not helpful in solving the issues we face."
Wheeler added that the union has been in consultation with experts from four top-notch law firms and is prepared to engage the County at their first joint bargaining session next week.
"ALADS has asserted our bargaining rights and the County has acknowledged its obligation to negotiate with us," he said. "We do not appreciate the County Supervisors’ lack of collaboration with stakeholders (ALADS and other labor groups) prior to their issuing this mandate. The problems we are all currently confronted with should have led to more collaboration by our County leaders, not to dictatorial mandates issued from their Ivory Tower on Temple Street.
Hilda Solis, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, announced the executive order mandating COVID vaccinations in an Aug. 4 tweet on Twitter.
“I am issuing an executive order to require all county employees, regardless of the department they serve, to be fully vaccinated no later than October 1st, 2021 with exemptions for medical and religious purposes,” Solis tweeted. “This timeline gives our employees the time they need to consult with their healthcare providers while moving expeditiously to protect the health and safety of our 110,000 workers.”
Replies to Solis' post by the general public included strong opinions against forced vaccinations.
@DaveAstray tweeted, "Goodbye, county jobs. Time for a career change. No matter how many years you’ve put in, the time to leave is now."
@californiamedic posted, "I doubt the union will idly stand by and do nothing. No one should be forced to be vaccinated after being hired. Since it's not a condition of employment."
@briankoch709 stated, "And what do you tell the thousands that are vaccinated that contract the delta variant and can pass it on?? Mandating something that doesn’t stop the spread is asinine!!"
@DAF424 tweeted simply, "Hitler!!!!"
Harry Nelson, founder, and managing partner of Nelson Hardiman, a Los Angeles-based healthcare law firm, suspects ALADS will have no choice but to bring a legal challenge in court.
“To the extent that this was done unilaterally by the County Board of Supervisors without consulting the union, I understand why the union is frustrated,” Nelson told the Southern California Record. “We need cooperation and collaboration to have discussions about these things before. I don't think it's productive to issue unilateral orders because they will end up basically destroying trust with the sheriffs. It's a legitimate complaint for the union to demand participation in any kind of discussion or changes of health policy and it’s a legitimate place for the sheriff himself and his team to weigh in."
Employers are now even more empowered to terminate workers who refuse to get vaccinated, according to Nelson, because the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the COVID-19 vaccination earlier this week.
“I'm aware of several companies that have already begun terminating employees or have set a hard deadline in the next week or two where it's basically said to their employees that if you do not get vaccinated, you will be terminated and I think organizations have gone too far,” Nelson added.