LAUSD Sued Again Over Employee Vaccination Mandate

LAUSD Sued Again Over Employee Vaccination Mandate
Students and parents arrive for the first day of the school year at Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles on Aug. 16, 2021. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images
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The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD), the second-largest school district in the nation, is facing another lawsuit against its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees.

Health Freedom Defense Fund (HFDF), a nonprofit organization based in Wyoming, and six members of California Educators for Medical Freedom filed a lawsuit last week to challenge LAUSD’s mandating all teachers and staff members to complete vaccination requirements by Oct. 15. The defendant will be served this week, according to HFDF’s statement.

“Health Freedom Defense Fund opposes laws and regulations that force Americans to submit to the administration of medical products, procedures, and devices against their will,” HFDF stated.

John Howard, the plaintiff’s lead attorney, said that making the vaccination a condition for employment is a “palpable invasion of rights secured by the fundamental law and is unconstitutional.”

Leslie Manookian, president of HFDF, said she believes the vaccines are unsafe, as she has been closely tracking the reports released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the deaths and injuries related to COVID-19 vaccination since January.

Manookian said she holds the vaccine mandate as an example of government overreach.

“Have we become North Korea?” Manookian said in the HFDF statement.

“Since the Nuremberg trials after the Nazi atrocities, that medical experimentation is unethical. ... You should never experiment on people without their voluntary informed consent,” she told The Epoch Times.

The complaint also stated that the vaccines can cause immunological dependency, higher spreading capacity, and higher risk of hospitalization and death for vaccinated individuals.

LAUSD announced in early August that all district employees, partners, and contractors must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 15, unless an exemption is granted for religious or medical reasons.

In October, seven employees at Granada Hills Charter School were fired for not following the district’s vaccine requirement.

The first such lawsuit against LAUSD was filed in March by seven LAUSD employees with HFDF’s assistance. Requesting the vaccine mandate to be halted, the complaint accused the school district of using unapproved vaccine materials.