The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed a bill on February 8 that could lead to the removal of thousands of county employees who have not been vaccinated or have secured a medical or religious exemption. The proposal, which received a 4-0 vote with one abstention, would transfer authority from department heads to the county’s director of personnel, who may or may not be carrying out the county’s current vaccine mandate.
Tomorrow at 9:30 am the @LACountyBOS will vote on Agenda Item #18, which is a Motion to terminate 18K @LACounty employees (4K from LASD) for not being vaccinated. These are the same law enforcement professionals, fire professionals, medical & health care professionals,
— Alex Villanueva (@LACoSheriff) February 8, 2022
According to Kuehl in Los Angeles, employees in the sheriff’s department have not formally gone through the county’s five-step protocol of warnings and suspensions, and the county is weeks away from firing them, according to Fox News. Despite this, Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who attempted to rally public opposition to the measure, claimed on Tuesday that 4,000 unvaccinated deputies will be fired.
As of Monday, 83 percent of the county’s 100,000 employees had received the necessary vaccinations. Another 15% have not been vaccinated, are seeking an exemption from the law, or have not disclosed their immunization status to the county, according to statistics released by Los Angeles officials. As of Monday, more than 5,000 exemptions had been requested, with approximately 2,400 being granted and another 2,500 awaiting approval.
