Judge Denies Preliminary Injunction For Firefighters Against Vaccine Mandate
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Los Angeles firefighters opposing the city's vaccine mandate suffered another legal loss in court on Tuesday.
Judge Michael P. Linfield rejected a preliminary injunction made by the Firefighters4Freedom Foundation. The injunction would have halted the implementation of the city's COVID vaccination mandate. The firefighters were seeking to be paid while awaiting their termination due process hearings.
City Attorney Mike Feuer praised the ruling.
"For the third time this month, my office has successfully fought back a misguided attempt to halt the vaccine mandate — an effort that would have placed the health of the public and fellow first responders at risk," said Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer. "In the strongest terms yet, this court underscored the emergency we continue to confront."
This is the third recent decision involving unsuccessful challenges, made by firefighters and the Los Angeles Police Union, to the city employee vaccine mandate.
According to Mayor Eric Garcetti's office, there are 244 full-time city employees that are on unpaid leave for not complying with the mandate. Additionally, there are 2,509 part-time employees who are either on unpaid leave or not scheduled for work for non-compliance or awaiting a decision on their medical or religious exemption request.