The St. Paul police union filed a lawsuit against the city this week over the requirement that all city employees be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by the end of the year.
Mayor Melvin Carter announced the mandate in a Oct. 21 video address sent to the city’s nearly 4,000 workers.
When the city was discussing the proposed policy, St. Paul Police Federation President Mark Ross and legal counsel met with city representatives Oct. 7 and proposed that employees who weren’t fully vaccinated could continue working at the city, as long as they wore masks and took regular tests for COVID-19, according to the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Ramsey County District Court.
That proposal would have been similar to policies in place at St. Paul Public Schools, Ramsey County, the city of Minneapolis and the state of Minnesota. “The Federation went so far as to propose that the employee would be responsible for any costs associated with COVID-19 testing,” the lawsuit continued.
“We are not anti-vaccine, nor are we conspiracy theorists — we are reasonable and dedicated public servants who believe in personal choice,” the Federation said in a Wednesday statement.
Alleging unfair labor practices, the police union argues in the lawsuit that the policy “imposes new terms and conditions of employment that the City did not negotiate or reach an agreement over with the Federation.” The union is seeking a temporary restraining order to stop the city from implementing the policy before a negotiated agreement or a decision from an arbitrator.
Unless a judge orders otherwise, the city will continue moving forward with the vaccine policy, Carter’s spokesman Peter Leggett said Wednesday.
“COVID is currently the leading cause of death among police officers in the United States,” Carter said in a statement. “We will do everything in our power to protect our employees and the public we serve from this deadly pandemic.”
The vaccination policy mailed to St. Paul employees says “they will not be permitted to work and may be subject to discipline” if they aren’t vaccinated. People may qualify for an accommodation due to a medical condition or a religious exemption, the policy states.
The policy also says it doesn’t allow an opt-out by testing because “testing only provides a way to determine if someone has COVID after they’ve already contracted it, offers no protection for an unvaccinated individual, nor for any individuals they interact with.”
In an October meeting with representatives of multiple city unions, before Carter announced the mandate, the unions “unanimously rejected” the city’s proposed mandate and reiterated a desire for a testing option, the lawsuit said: “Even though the Federation and City were unable to reach an agreement regarding a COVID-19 vaccination policy, the City unilaterally imposed the policy.”
The police union estimates about 20 percent of officers aren’t vaccinated, which equates to more than 100 officers “who will be relieved of their duties,” the Federation statement said. “We are already down 80 officers in a year where we’re experiencing record numbers of citizens being shot and homicides. We know that an inadequately staffed police force is a much greater danger to our community than 20% of our officers not being vaccinated.”
Mike Smith, International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21 president, said St. Paul firefighters “stand with our law enforcement partners” and that their union is considering filing a similar lawsuit. Firefighters also work as EMTs and paramedics in St. Paul.
Smith estimated 80 percent of his members are vaccinated. He said some firefighters “want the choice of what they put into their body and some have a medical, religious belief that they should have the option.”
Because the city policy requires employees to be vaccinated by Dec. 31, the city has not yet gathered information on how many already have done so, Leggett said.
“We consistently hear that workers want a testing option,” said Liz Xiong, Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota spokesperson. She said the Tri-Council board, which represents three city of St. Paul labor unions, hasn’t taken a position on the mandate.
Police departments around the country that require officers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 are running up against pockets of resistance, and unions and officers are filing lawsuits, the Associated Press reported last month.
In the United States, at least 285 officers have died of COVID-19 this year, more than five times the number who were fatally shot, according to the Officer Down Memorial Page.
Frederick Melo contributed to this report.
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