L.A. Officials Working On Plan To Take Vaccination Enforcement For Sheriff’s Deputies Out Of Villanueva’s Hands
09.02.2022 - 01:39
/ deadline.com
With Sheriff Alex Villanueva declining to enforce the county’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate among his deputies, the Board of Supervisors today voted to develop a proposal that would give the county’s personnel director overriding authority to discipline any employees who fail to comply with the requirement, including Sheriff’s deputies.
Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Holly Mitchell introduced the motion, saying countywide compliance with the employee vaccine mandate “remains a challenge four months after its issuance.” They noted that as of Feb. 1, 81.5% of the county’s 100,000 employees were fully vaccinated as required by the mandate.
But in the sheriff’s department, less than 60% of employees were in compliance with the vaccine mandate. By comparison, LAPD Assistant Chief Beatrice Girmala told the Los Angeles Police Commission today that 10,216 LAPD employees, or 82.9% of the department, are fully vaccinated, a half-percent are partially vaccinated, and 16.6% are unvaccinated. Currently, one Los Angeles Police Department officer has been fired for violating the city’s vaccine mandate and termination proceedings are underway for seven others.
“Unsurprisingly, approximately 74% of the more than 5,000 Covid-19 related workers’ compensation claims filed by county employees as of Jan. 29, 2022, have been filed by employees in the sheriff’s department,” according to the motion. “This data illustrates vaccinations’ vital role in limiting the spread of COVID-19 and thus, the urgent need to increase vaccination rates across the entire county workforce.”
The Sheriff’s Department is the only county department that has refused to enforce the mandate, according to one board member. Villanueva said last October that, based on budget cuts and