Some Chicago cops lose pay over vax rules

CHICAGO — A “very small number” of Chicago police officers have been placed on no-pay status for refusing to comply with the city’s requirement that they report their vaccine status, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Monday afternoon.

Lightfoot made the comment at a news conference where she highlighted the relatively high compliance with the city’s vaccine mandate across most other city governmental departments.

Less than 65% of Chicago cops have met the city’s vaccination reporting requirement, days after Friday’s deadline for city workers to disclose their status.

About 72% of Chicago firefighters have met the requirement set by Lightfoot as a condition of city workers’ employment.

Chicago’s data is a good newsbad news scenario for Lightfoot, who has been in a standoff with some labor leaders: The vast majority of city departments are at near 100% compliance after the mayor’s deadline came and went Friday.

But response rates remain comparably low for police and firefighters, an unsurprising development given the widespread opposition campaign mounted by Fraternal Order of Police local President John Catanzara before a judge ordered him to stop speaking publicly against the campaign.

Aside from police and fire, the next lowest response rate is for Family and Support Services, at 83%. No other departments are under 90% compliance.