{"id":1563912,"date":"2022-07-21T07:50:08","date_gmt":"2022-07-21T11:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1563912"},"modified":"2022-07-21T07:50:18","modified_gmt":"2022-07-21T11:50:18","slug":"religious-los-angeles-employees-sue-city-over-discriminatory-vaccine-mandate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/religious-los-angeles-employees-sue-city-over-discriminatory-vaccine-mandate\/","title":{"rendered":"Religious Los Angeles Employees Sue City\u00a0Over Discriminatory Vaccine Mandate"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Freligious-los-angeles-employees-sue-city-over-discriminatory-vaccine-mandate%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1563912&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>In August 2021, the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2021-08-18\/covid-vaccines-mandate-los-angeles-city-employees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">with little<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2021-08-18\/covid-vaccines-mandate-los-angeles-city-employees\"> ostensible political opposition<\/a>, passed and approved an <a href=\"https:\/\/clkrep.lacity.org\/onlinedocs\/2021\/21-0921_ord_187134_8-24-21.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ordinance<\/a> that would \u201crequire COVID-19 vaccination for all current and future city employees\u201d with limited exceptions for those granted medical or religious exemptions.<\/p>\n<p>The stated rationale was that \u201cCOVID-19 continues to pose a significant public health risk. \u2026 Vaccination is the most effective way to prevent transmission and limit COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. \u2026 Unvaccinated employees are at a greater risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19 within the workplace, and risk transmission to the public that depends on City services.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe City\u2019s goal,\u201d according to the ordinance, \u201cis to have a vaccinated workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Around the time of the passage of the ordinance, city leaders attempted to convey the importance of the measure.\u00a0A few weeks prior to its passage, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lamayor.org\/mayor-garcetti-council-president-martinez-push-toward-mandatory-vaccines-city-employees\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a> found on the L.A. mayor\u2019s website quoted Garcetti as saying,\u00a0\u201c[W]e\u2019re committed to pursuing a full vaccine mandate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the same press release, City Council President Nury Martinez is also quoted: \u201cAngelenos have stayed inside for over a year to protect themselves and others. I think it\u2019s safe to say that we\u2019re getting tired of putting our lives on hold to protect people who don\u2019t want to protect themselves and get vaccinated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, a number of L.A. city employees and their families have <a href=\"https:\/\/brownstone.org\/articles\/the-trials-of-las-unvaccinated-city-workers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">come to see<\/a> the ordinance as burdensome to people of faith, grossly unconstitutional, and scientifically unsound.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>One group of such individuals, represented by the anti-mandate coalition <a href=\"https:\/\/rollcall4freedom.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Roll Call 4 Freedom<\/a>, subsequently filed a lawsuit in March 2022, alleging that the rationale for the ordinance is flawed while its implementation is discriminatory and illegal.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Contrary to the rationale of the ordinance, the lawsuit asserts, Covid\u2019s omicron variant infects both the vaccinated and unvaccinated alike with neither vaccines nor even masks, for that matter, capable of doing much to halt infection or transmission. Yet, the lawsuit points out, only unvaccinated employees must regularly take the time to arrange, submit to, and sometimes pay for testing, and then use their sick days to take time off from work if they are found to have an asymptomatic infection.<\/p>\n<p>Given that many of those employees who remain unvaccinated for Covid are unvaccinated largely due to religious objections to the use of embryonic cell lines in the initial development of the vaccines, this places an undue burden on people of faith, according to the lawsuit.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, according to the lawsuit, even if the vaccines did offer protection against Covid infection and transmission, the procedures currently in place for requesting a religious exemption would still run afoul of the Supreme Court.<\/p>\n<p>At present, according to a <a href=\"https:\/\/per.lacity.org\/documents\/FINAL-Mandatory-Vaccination-Policy-Exemption-Procedures_20210916.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">document<\/a> regarding exemption procedures issued on September 17, 2021, and found on the City of Los Angeles Personnel Department website, employees seeking a religious exemption are told to submit two forms: a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/per.lacity.org\/documents\/FINAL-Form-C---Request-for-Religious-Exemption_20210916.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Request for Religious Exemption Form<\/a>\u201d and a \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/per.lacity.org\/documents\/FINAL-Form-D---Religious-Accommodation-Certification_20210916.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Religious Accommodation Certification Form<\/a>.\u201d The forms would then be assessed by designated personnel within an employee\u2019s department at their place of business, as well as the city\u2019s Personnel Department\u2019s Covid-19 Exemption\/Deferment Unit.<\/p>\n<p>The first form asks employees to explain how their religious beliefs conflict with the city\u2019s vaccine requirement, as well as how long they\u2019ve held those beliefs.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The second form, which is supposed to be completed by a religious leader, religious scholar, or person familiar with the employee\u2019s religious beliefs, asks them to certify that the employee is adherent to said religious beliefs before questioning the certifier regarding if and why the employee\u2019s belief system requires adherents to abstain from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>These types of questions, as well as the overall procedure, however, according to Roll Call 4 Freedom\u2019s lawyers, are illegal. The questions suggest an employee\u2019s objection to Covid vaccination must be based on a formal religious doctrine, and then, with little guidance,\u00a0grants excessive discretion to low-level bureaucrats to evaluate an employee\u2019s sincerity and the theological validity of their arguments.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, according to the lawsuit, \u201cThe purpose of the religious exemption and testing scheme is not to provide for exemptions for sincerely held religious beliefs but to force employees holding such beliefs to abandon them or to forfeit employment with the City in an effort to move toward a fully vaccinated workforce.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Through their lawsuit, Roll Call 4 Freedom is requesting that the city of Los Angeles be enjoined from treating vaccinated employees and those with religious exemptions differently, from requiring employees to demonstrate their opposition to Covid vaccination is central to their faith, and from using non-uniform processes in approving or denying religious exemptions. The group also seeks to ensure that mandated testing for Covid is free, arranged by the city, and required no more than once per week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>When contacted via email for comment on Roll Call 4 Freedom\u2019s case, Tristan G. Pelayes, an attorney for the organization, stated that a hearing is set for July 28 and that he is confident the case will be successful based on \u201cthe religious aspect of the case and how exemptions are determined and approved.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You can read Roll Call 4 Freedom\u2019s lawsuit below:<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Daniel Nuccio holds master&#8217;s degrees in both psychology and biology. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in biology at Northern Illinois University and is a regular contributor for The College Fix and The Brownstone Institute.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-comments mt-30 mt-sm-60\">\n<div class=\"article-comments-container d-flex flex-column align-items-center py-30\">\n    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"110\" height=\"106\" src=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/fdrlst-mark.svg\" class=\"img-fluid mb-20\" alt=\"The Federalist logo eagle mark\" \/>    <\/p>\n<p>Unlock commenting by joining the Federalist Community.<\/p>\n<p>    <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/plans\/pricing\/\" class=\"btn btn-on-white\">Subscribe<\/a>  <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In August 2021, the Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Eric Garcetti, with little ostensible political opposition, passed and approved an ordinance that would \u201crequire COVID-19 vaccination for all current<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":637,"featured_media":1897764,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1563912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_finder_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/07\/21\/religious-los-angeles-employees-sue-city-over-discriminatory-vaccine-mandate\/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=religious-los-angeles-employees-sue-city-over-discriminatory-vaccine-mandate","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1563912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1563912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1897764"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1563912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1563912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1563912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}