rollout rolled back
Hub worker vax mandate enforcement delayed
Boston won’t begin enforcing its worker vaccine mandate for more than a week, according to an email from City Hall to union leaders and department heads.
Mayor Michelle Wu’s mandate that all workers have received at least one shot of coronavirus vaccine was due to hit Saturday, sidelining potentially hundreds of workers, particularly concentrated in the fire department.
That now won’t happen — at least for another week. While the mandate does go into effect Saturday, no one will be placed on leave over it for at least another week, per an email obtained by the Herald and confirmed by multiple sources. The date when people will begin to be placed on leave will be Jan. 24, nine days after the mandate kicks in.
“In a show of good faith, the City is announcing that between January 15 and January 23, 2022, no employees will be disciplined or placed on administrative leave and instead will be allowed an additional week to get into compliance,” labor relations director Tammy Pust wrote in the email sent out Friday afternoon. Pust wrote that hearings would be scheduled for everyone out of compliance at that point.
Wu’s press office ignored calls for a couple of hours on Friday afternoon before eventually releasing a statement this this was happening “as planned.”
“An overwhelming majority of City employees have already met the employee vaccine policy,” Wu said in the statement, adding that the city “will conduct a thorough review and notify anyone who has not yet uploaded proof of vaccination. Starting on January 24th, any staff still without proof of vaccination will begin to be placed on unpaid administrative leave, pending further action.”
Wu wrapped up, “I’m grateful for the employees who have already done their part to keep themselves, all of our coworkers, and the residents of Boston safe.”
The city said more than 17,425 employees are in compliance, with 16,864 fully vaccinated and 561 partially. The city wouldn’t say how many people were currently out of compliance, though it normally lists about or somewhat more than 18,000 as the total number of employees.
The fire department likely will see the most of an impact once the administration starts booting people off the job, as more than 300 firefighters continued to hold out as of a few weeks ago. The department didn’t have updated numbers on Friday.
The city’s lawyers stated in court earlier this week, successfully fending off a challenge from first-responder groups that would have halted the mandate, agreed with a judge’s summary of the case that suspensions were looming sooner than that.
The situation remained fluid into Friday, as frantic negotiations pushed into the waning hours of daylight before the announcement came, less than nine hours before the midnight Saturday deadline.
Protestors have dogged Wu all week, showing up in front of her Roslindale home and at public appearances as they opposed a hard vaccine mandate altogether.
Wu had announced this policy at the end of December as the highly contagious omicron variant began to surge. That’s continued, though it seems to show signs of abating somewhat.
The other parts of Wu’s mandate will continue to move ahead. Many venues including restaurants and bars will still have to require proof of vaccination for patrons.