Written by Vincent Cain
Dozens of city workers have started receiving advanced termination notices Thursday due to their failure to comply with the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees.
“The way out of this pandemic is through vaccines — and the city of San Diego will lead by example,” Mayor Todd Gloria stated before the City Council passed the vaccine mandate 8-1 last month. “With city employees regularly interacting with members of the public, this vaccination mandate takes on even more necessity — not only to protect the public, but also to protect our city workers.”
A city spokesman reported this week that 85% of its 11,300 employees were vaccinated, and 1,095 of them were requesting some kind of religious or medical exemption.
City employees had until Monday to decide to either get vaccinated or choose one of the options provided, them being requesting a religious or medical exemption, taking leave without pay, resigning, or retiring. Anyone who chose to do none of the options provided was sent termination notices and could face a hearing with “all due process rights and rights to representation.”
City officials assured that anyone who complied with the mandate before receiving the notice will not be fired.
In response to the mandate, San Diego Police Officers Association representatives said that it would reduce police force because they would seek employment in other cities.
Jack Schaeffer, the SDPOA’s president, said that the association represents over 1,800 employees, and 500 of which have refused to get vaccinated so far. He also mentioned that 50 police officers have left the department for other jobs.
In a survey conducted in September, around 90% of the 733 San Diego Police Officers Association officers believed that getting that vaccine should be a choice. Over 300 of the officers said that they would rather lose their job than get vaccinated.
Photo Cred: Sandy Huffaker/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
