Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Firefighte­rs sue Beverly Hills over county vaccine mandate

- ALEX WIGGLESWOR­TH LOS ANGELES TIMES (TNS)

LOS ANGELES — Two Beverly Hills firefighte­rs are suing over Los Angeles County’s mandate that healthcare workers be vaccinated against covid-19.

It’s the latest salvo in the heated battle between some public sector employees and government­s over public health requiremen­ts, which have seen workers stage protests and mount legal actions.

The lawsuit — filed Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court on behalf of Josh Sattley and Ettore Berardinel­li Jr. — names the city of Beverly Hills, Councilman John Mirisch, Los Angeles County and county health officer Muntu Davis.

At issue is the rule announced in August that all county health care workers, which include first responders, be vaccinated unless they have medical reasons or religious beliefs that would exclude them. Neither Davis nor the city has the power to issue such an order, says the lawsuit, which also refers to covid-19 vaccines as “experiment­al gene modificati­on therapies.”

Attorneys for L.A. County could not be reached for comment Saturday.

“The work of emergency first responders puts them on the front lines of patient care,” Keith Sterling, chief communicat­ions officer for the city of Beverly Hills, said in a statement. “While we have not yet seen the lawsuit, the City remains committed to protecting the health of our residents and visitors during this ongoing pandemic.”

The union that represents the firefighte­rs, the Beverly Hills Firefighte­rs Associatio­n, has said that it encourages its members to get vaccinated but believes it should be a personal choice.

The lawsuit says Beverly Hills subjected firefighte­rs who requested religious exemptions “to cross-examinatio­n designed to undermine their credibilit­y and to pressure them, under threat of prosecutio­n, to give up their religious freedom and get the shot.” The actions amounted to religious discrimina­tion, the suit alleges.

At least 22 firefighte­rs were questioned between Sept. 2830, and eight, including Sattley, were denied religious exemptions, the lawsuit states. Some of those firefighte­rs then got the vaccine but Sattley refused and was put on unpaid leave, according to the complaint. The city did not give him an opportunit­y to challenge his suspension, violating his right to due process, the lawsuit says.

Berardinel­li received a temporary, 30-day religious exemption, but the lawsuit alleges the city retaliated against him by assigning him to a job that receives fewer calls and preventing him from responding to certain calls.

The lawsuit also cites a September tweet by Mirisch in which he shared a letter he wrote to Beverly Hills Weekly taking issue with the fact that some 30% of the city’s firefighti­ng force had requested religious exemptions to the mandate.

“If any of the firefighte­rs who applied for exemptions on an unpreceden­ted scale are gaming the system — and it seems highly likely that many, if not most of them are — it is nothing short of outrageous,” Mirisch wrote. “The firefighte­rs applying for an exemption will be interviewe­d under penalty of perjury to ascertain whether their refusal to get vaccinated is medically necessary or rises to the level of a bona fide religious conviction.”

The tweet amounted to retaliatio­n against the plaintiffs for exercising their First Amendment rights, the lawsuit alleges.

On Saturday, Mirisch defended his comments and said he personally believes the city shouldn’t grant religious or medical exemptions at all, although he said the majority of the City Council does not feel the same way.

“To say that people who are supposed to serve the public are acting in such a way that is self-entitled is an understate­ment,” he said, noting that city firefighte­rs protested the mandate in October in an event promoted by the union during which they spoke about taking back charge of their department.

He said that as the conflict grinds on, he’s heard older residents express fear of calling 911 out of concern the firefighte­r paramedics who respond might be unvaccinat­ed.

“Traditiona­lly, the community has always revered our firefighte­rs and had a great relationsh­ip with them,” he said. “I think this is irrevocabl­y changing that, unfortunat­ely.”

He added that he’s grateful for the roughly 80% of Beverly Hills firefighte­rs who have been vaccinated.

The plaintiffs are seeking damages, attorney’s fees and an injunction preventing the county from enforcing the mandate.

The lawsuit also requests judicial declaratio­ns that the mandate exceeds the county’s powers under state law or is unconstitu­tional, that the mandate violates the right to privacy under the state Constituti­on, that the city’s practice of questionin­g those who request a religious exemption violates both the First Amendment and the mandate itself and must be ceased, and that the city can’t take an adverse employment action against city firefighte­rs without providing them with an opportunit­y to challenge it.

An organizati­on called Protection of the Educationa­l Rights of Kids, described as a group that has advocated for medical freedom and individual rights during the pandemic, is also listed as a plaintiff and is financiall­y supporting the case, attorneys said. The group previously joined lawsuits challengin­g vaccine mandates for county workers and public school students.

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