Los Angeles moves to discipline county sheriffs that are unvaccinated

With California’s indoor mask mandates coming to an end, Los Angeles County has given a preliminary approval to a proposal that would allow the county personnel director to discipline any employees that fail to comply with the county’s vaccine mandate.

The Board of Supervisors gave the preliminary approval on Tuesday in the wake of Sheriff Alex Villanueva refusing to enforce the county’s covid-19 vaccine mandate amongst his deputies, according to ABC 7. The motion was approved 4-0, with Supervisor Kathryn Barger abstaining.

Villanueva condemned the proposal, calling it a "death blow to public safety," which would result in the firing of 4,000 members of his department.

Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Holly Mitchell introduced the motion, stating that countywide compliance of the employee vaccine mandate "remains a challenge four months after its issuance," noting that as of February 1, 81.5 percent of the county’s 100,000 employees were fully vaccinated, but within the sheriff’s department, less than 60 percent of employees have followed the mandate.

"Unsurprisingly, approximately 74% of the more than 5,000 COVID-19-related workers' compensation claims filed by county employees as of Jan. 29, 2022, have been filed by employees in the sheriff's department," according to the motion.

"This data illustrates vaccinations' vital role in limiting the spread of COVID-19 and thus, the urgent need to increase vaccination rates across the entire county workforce."

According to ABC 7, "the motion directs county attorneys to work with the CEO and personnel director to develop proposed amendments to county Civil Service rules, giving the personnel director 'overriding authority to discipline the employees of any county department for noncompliance with the county's policy or directives related to the policy.'"

Those proposed amendments will be reviewed by the Board of Supervisors at their March 15 meeting for final consideration.

The authority to discipline employees in violation of the mandate currently rests on individual department heads. The motion states that this arrangement "has allowed for inconsistent application and enforcement of the policy and wide variety from department to department."

Villanueva, who has encouraged people to get vaccinated, said that the county’s vaccine mandate would decimate the already depleted department.

Instead of the mandate, Villanueva suggested that deputies should be have the option of regular testing rather than forced vaccination.

Speaking at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors’ meeting by phone, Villanueva called the proposed shift in disciplinary authority a "death blow to public safety in Los Angeles County" that would have little impact.

According to ABC 7: "He said 9,881 department members are fully vaccinated, and in the last 30 days, 342 have tested positive, for a 3.46% positivity rate. Among the 5,766 unvaccinated members, 221 tested positive in the last 30 days, for a 3.83% positivity rate."

"Your motion is going to seek to basically cause us to actually lose 4,000 employees, for a grand total of 0.4% improvement in positivity rate," he said.

"(That) is not exactly benefit to public safety. We're coming off two years of a historically high 94% increase in homicide rate, 64% increase in grand theft auto. And this is just not sustainable. The current situation is not sustainable. The hiring freeze is not sustainable."

"... This is ill-advised, illogical and probably in the long run illegal,'' Villanueva said. And by the time we figure out the legality of it, we're going to be past the pandemic, which will make the result irrelevant. I urge you to deescalate, dial back the rhetoric and find some common ground—testing or vaccination, and we're doing that right now."

An attorney for the Los Angeles County Professional Peace Officers Association sent a letter to the board on Monday expressing their objection to the proposal, saying it would violate the county charter and would be an overstepping of the board's authority.

"Any attempt to take over the sheriff's ability to oversee the disciplinary process for his employees, it is submitted, would certainly not survive legal scrutiny by the courts who would likely find the BOS exceeded their authority under well-established legal principals," attorney James Cunningham wrote.

Citing a 1977 court ruling, Cunningham said, "Such supervisory control by the BOS would directly conflict with the admonition that the board has no power to perform county officers' statutory duties for them or direct the manner in which duties are performed."

Under questioning from Kuehl, an attorney for the county said that the board has full legal authority to shift disciplinary authority for the vaccine mandate to the personnel director.

Kuehl said employees' refusal to get vaccinated or at least request an exemption "really puts county lives at risk, and it is simply unacceptable."

"To protect county lives ... we have to enforce this mandate." she said. "Every department head must be serious about enforcing departmental and countywide policies. ... Not all of our department heads have recognized that this policy is critically necessary and will save lives. ... We are not going to permit county lives to be jeopardized by an individual decision not to comply with county policy. If you, county department head, will not take this seriously ... the county director of personnel is willing to do so."

Supervisor Janice Hahn said she hopes the proposed change in policy would motivate more people to abide by the mandate, saying she hopes "once they understand what the end game is, they will take the opportunity to get vaccinated."

She added that the county should consider lifting its hiring freeze on the sheriff’s department, and increase recruit academies to ensure that there would be enough incoming officers to maintain public safety if a large number of deputies are laid off.