Illinois Judge Pauses Chicago Vaccine Mandate for Police
Illinois Judge Pauses Chicago Vaccine Mandate for Police
(Bloomberg) -- An Illinois judge paused a Dec. 31 deadline for Chicago’s police officers to be vaccinated against Covid-19, saying the union needed more time to negotiate with the city over the mandate.
Cook County Judge Raymond Mitchell said in his ruling on Monday that the lack of “meaningful arbitration” was an “injury” to the Fraternal Order of Police Chicago Lodge No. 7 and its members. The union had sued last month to block the mandate.
“The only remedy left to protect the unions’ right to meaningful arbitration is to stay compliance with the Dec. 31 vaccination requirement until such time as the arbitration is complete,” Mitchell wrote in his ruling. “The effect of this Order is to send these parties back to the bargaining table.”
But Mitchell upheld Chicago’s separate requirement that every municipal employee report their vaccination status, which the judge called a “minimal intrusion” given that officers already are required to provide medical information.
Since the Oct. 15 reporting deadline, 27 officers have been placed on no-pay status for not complying. Those who aren’t vaccinated must submit to twice weekly testing at their own expense.
Chicago isn’t alone in its standoff with city workers over vaccines. New York City’s mandate went into effect on Monday, and the nation’s largest city is preparing for labor shortages.
So far, legal challenges by city workers have been mostly unsuccessful. On Friday, a federal judge in Chicago denied a motion by 130 firefighters and other city employees to temporarily halt enforcement of the vaccine reporting requirement.
During an unrelated event on Monday, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the city would continue to do everything it could to “educate our workforce” and the larger population about the need for the vaccine. She said the city’s lawyers are looking at the judge’s ruling, and that the city offered to negotiate with the union multiple times over the past two months.
“We need to get a deal done,” Lightfoot said. “We can’t afford to wait any longer to save people’s lives.”
Last week, the city council voted to keep Lightfoot’s vaccination policy in place with 30 aldermen voting against the measure seeking to repeal the mandate. As of Thursday, 72% of police department employees and 87% of the fire department are in compliance with the reporting requirement, according to city data.
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