LA County Sheriff’s Department Could Lose 4,000 Employees Over COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva speaks at a news conference in Los Angeles, California, on Sept. 10, 2020. AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is set to lose 4,000 employees who have not been vaccinated against the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, which causes COVID-19.

The LA County Board of Supervisors is set to vote on the potential termination of 18,000 employees who have not complied with the COVID-19 vaccination requirements on Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department posted on Twitter Monday.

Of those 18,000 non-compliant employees, 4,000 belong to the Sheriff’s Department.

“These are the same law enforcement professionals, fire professionals, medical & health care professionals, mental health professionals, and others who we called HERO’s just a short time ago,” the department said. “Call the Board meeting tomorrow to share your public safety concerns and stop this social experimentation!”

The Board of Supervisors began establishing a policy requiring all LA County employees to submit proof of full vaccination against COVID-19 in August 2021.

Officials said employees needed to be vaccinated in an effort to “combat the elevated risk presented by the highly transmissible Delta variant and to prepare for the County’s imminent reopening of its buildings to the public.”

A COVID-19 vaccination policy was then implemented in October and requires that all LA County employees be fully vaccinated and submit proof of vaccination unless they have been granted a medical or religious exemption.

As of Feb. 1, 2022, 81.5 percent (82,298) of LA County’s approximately 100,000 employees are fully vaccinated, Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said.

More than 90 percent of those vaccinated are employed by approximately a dozen LA County departments, while less than 60 percent of the employees in the Sheriff’s Department are fully vaccinated, Kuehl said.

“Unsurprisingly, approximately 74 percent 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,” the supervisor said.

The LA County Board of Supervisors says that this data illustrate the “vaccinations’ vital role in limiting the spread of COVID-19” and the “urgent need to increase vaccination rates across the entire County workforce.”

They have agreed to “discipline the employees of any County department for noncompliance” with the COVID-19 vaccine mandate and will be suspending or terminating such employees.

The Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs in December sued the Board of Supervisors, claiming that it does not have the legal authority to suspend or fire LA County sheriff’s deputies for noncompliance with the county’s mandatory vaccination order.

But the board maintains it has the legal authority to do so.

The Epoch Times has contacted the LA County Board of Supervisors for comment.

Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva has been a vocal critic of the county’s vaccine mandate and repeatedly said he will not force his employees to get vaccinated, while calling the issue of COVID-19 vaccines “politicized.”

In October, Villanueva said that the termination of so many Sheriff’s Department employees could have dire consequences to public safety as the department was already struggling with “barebones” staffing issues due to “defund the police” efforts.

Prior to that, the sheriff also said that forcing vaccinated individuals and those who have already contracted COVID-19 to wear masks indoors is “not backed by science and contradicts the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines.”