Deal gives officers flexibility on mandate

All San Jose city employees can be tested twice weekly if they choose not to get vaccinated

SAN JOSE >> After the looming prospect of more than 100 police officers heading out the door over a vaccine mandate that began today, San Jose’s police union has reached an agreement with the city that gives officers — and by extension, all other city employees — the option to test twice weekly if they don’t want to get a COVID-19 vaccination shot.

But to opt out of vaccination, police officers and other city employees who weren’t already granted exemptions will have to serve the equivalent of a weeklong unpaid suspension.

In giving all city employees a temporary out if they weren’t fully vaccinated by Sept. 30 or had not yet obtained medical or religious exemptions, San Jose officials took a more lenient approach than a hard-and-fast deadline.

“We want to do this in a way that is compatible with ensuring that we still can provide basic emergency response, as well as the other essential services in our city,” said Mayor Sam Liccardo, who has supported intermediate sanctions since the start of the proposed vaccine mandate.

“So we’re going to move at a pace that prods folks along. … It’s important for us to move collaboratively and not simply to try to race to some judgment or race to some determination.”

Police officers and city employees across all departments will be given a one-week grace period to make a vaccination appointment or request a medical or religious exemption. Those who still do not want to get vaccinated and have not been granted an exemption will be suspended without pay for a week.

After that week, though, they can continue working as long as they submit a negative COVID-19 test twice a week — on their own time and at their own expense.

For those who remain unvaccinated after Dec. 31, the city said it will “consider further action,” which could include termination.

According to the agreement, any police officer who still refuses to comply with any of those terms will be fast-tracked to termina

tion proceedings.

Council member Raul Peralez, a former city police officer, said Friday he was “supportive and appreciative” of the city’s flexible, phased approach.

“Right now we still have over 500 city employees who are unvaccinated,” Peralez said. “As you can imagine, that would be a pretty significant hit to our workforce — not just with police and fire but across the board.”

The testing option for unvaccinated employees is similar to what the city previously had offered to those granted medical and religious exemptions. However, those whose exemptions already were accepted will not be subject to one week of unpaid leave. Until late Thursday, the city had not indicated there would be a testing alternative for city employees lacking an exemption.

The agreement between the police union and the city effectively makes seeking an exemption moot if officers are willing to give up a week of pay. Sources in the Police Department told this news organization the police administration had received a wave of lastminute religious exemption applications before the deal was reached.

The city said it is evaluating requests for religious and medical exemptions on a “case-by-case basis.” As of late Thursday, the city had received about 350 exemption requests from its workforce and had denied only eight of those.

Overall, about 92% of 7,000 on-duty San Jose employees had submitted proof of vaccination as of Friday. Within the city’s Police Department, about 89% of its 1,800 employees have submitted proof of vaccination, according to the department. As of Friday, 101 police department employees had not yet submitted vaccination proof or requested an exemption. About 103 Police Department employees had been granted an exemption and 32 still were awaiting exemption approvals.

Before the deal was reached, the city was under heavy political pressure after the union publicly stated that as many as 140 officers — who as of last week had not submitted vaccination proof — might leave the department, jeopardizing baseline police operations. The union’s efforts to avoid mandatory vaccinations for its officers marked a strategic split from other large unions in the city that either supported the vaccine mandate or remained neutral, though other public safety unions across the state have taken a similar position as the POA.

But the city did not budge, at least publicly, on its vaccination requirement or its deadline until Thursday.

In a statement after the test-out option was granted, the union said it “recognized the dire consequences of potentially losing a significant amount of officers and worked with the city to find a solution that protects both the health and the safety of our members and the residents we serve.”