{"id":2396631,"date":"2025-01-29T15:36:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-29T20:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shortly-before-wildfires-la-fired-firefighter-for-refusing-covid-vax\/"},"modified":"2025-01-29T15:39:53","modified_gmt":"2025-01-29T20:39:53","slug":"shortly-before-wildfires-la-fired-firefighter-for-refusing-covid-vax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/shortly-before-wildfires-la-fired-firefighter-for-refusing-covid-vax\/","title":{"rendered":"Shortly Before Wildfires LA Fired Firefighter For Refusing Covid Vax"},"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\">20<\/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%2Fshortly-before-wildfires-la-fired-firefighter-for-refusing-covid-vax%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=2396631&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>Edward \u2064Brockschmidt,\u200c a Los Angeles firefighter, faced important troubles with the city&#8217;s fire department when he refused\u200d to comply with the\u2064 Covid vaccine mandate in 2021. Initially placed\u2062 on \u200bunpaid \u200bleave for over two years after requesting a religious exemption,Brockschmidt returned to duty\u200b only to be terminated in August 2024\u2014despite\u200d the mandate no \u2063longer being in effect. He and \u200cother firefighters alleged that proper procedures were\u2062 bypassed in the push for compliance.<\/p>\n<p>During the vaccine mandate period, \u2062Brockschmidt and \u2063his colleagues\u200b received threats regarding \u2062their jobs if they did not comply. Although the firefighters&#8217; union challenged the city&#8217;s actions, the Department\u2063 of Fire and Emergency Services did not reinstate Brockschmidt until the summer of \u20622024. Even \u2064then, he was later terminated after a board review that perceived his\u2062 exemption request as \u200bundermining the department. Brockschmidt argues this decision was based on an animosity \u2064towards his religious \u200dbeliefs. The case highlights the struggles \u2064firefighters faced regarding vaccine mandates and the broader implications for public\u2064 sector employment \u200dand religious exemptions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>When Los Angeles Firefighter Edward Brockschmidt returned to duty, he thought his troubles with the city and the fire department were over.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Fire Department placed Brockschmidt on unpaid leave for refusing the Covid vaccine in 2021, he told The Federalist. Officials kept him on unpaid leave for more than two years. Then after providing a religious exemption and returning him to duty, they fired him in August 2024 for not complying with the vaccine mandate &mdash; which was no longer in effect.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Proper procedures were not followed because their goal was to get as many people vaccinated as possible,&rdquo;&nbsp; Brockschmidt told The Federalist. &ldquo;There&rsquo;s a few of us that dug our heels in the ground and said, &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t do this to us, we&rsquo;re following the law and the rules.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Since then, Brockschmidt had to find employment elsewhere. More than <a href=\"https:\/\/uflac.org\/lw-grievance-table\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">100<\/a> firefighters were placed on leave without pay, and as of 2022, the department <a href=\"https:\/\/www.firerescue1.com\/coronavirus-covid-19\/articles\/los-angeles-has-terminated-12-lafd-firefighters-over-covid-19-vaccination-requirements-KTb1Fx5mHC5esRYa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fired<\/a> 12 for not complying with the vaccine mandate. The LAFD remains <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2025\/01\/14\/us\/la-fire-department-resourses-understaffed-invs\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">critically understaffed<\/a> as wildfires ravage the area.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>Forcing Compliance<\/h2>\n<p>Brockschmidt has been with the LAFD since 2014, he said. In 2021, the city council <a href=\"https:\/\/clkrep.lacity.org\/onlinedocs\/2021\/21-0921_ord_187134_8-24-21.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mandated<\/a> all municipal employees get a Covid vaccine or an exemption &mdash; and report their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/us-troops-in-germany-face-vaccination-delays\/\" title=\"US Troops in Germany Face Vaccination Delays\">vaccination status<\/a> &mdash; by October that year.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The department kept putting out these threatening notices &mdash; information notices &mdash; in our stations like, &lsquo;If you don&rsquo;t do this, you will receive penalty up and to termination,&rsquo;&rdquo; Brockschmidt said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re like, &lsquo;You can&rsquo;t do that. We have a union representing us. You can&rsquo;t just bypass them.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>A firefighter who wished to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions shared a compliance notice and &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/comrade-de-blasio-were-going-to-have-sheriffs-deputies-go-to-the-home-or-hotel-of-every-single-traveler-coming-in-from-the-uk-video\/\" title=\"Comrade De Blasio: \u201cWe\u2019re going to Have Sheriff\u2019s Deputies go to the Home or Hotel of Every Single Traveler Coming in From the UK\u201d (VIDEO)\">direct order<\/a>&rdquo; with The Federalist.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>Direct order to comply with the vaccine mandate, page 1<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>Direct order to comply with the vaccine mandate, page 2<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<figure>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>A notice demanding firefighters report their vaccination status<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>A notice the LAFD sent to its members regarding compliance with the Covid vaccine mandate<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Covid vaccination deadline for city employees was ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2021-10-19\/unvaccinated-l-a-city-employees-december\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">extended<\/a> to <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/los-angeles-firefighters-covid-19-vaccination\/11306486\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dec<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/los-angeles-firefighters-covid-19-vaccination\/11306486\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"> 18, 2021<\/a>. Brockschmidt still hadn&rsquo;t complied by Dec. 7, so a chief came by the station. He said he asked to record their conversation, but the chief refused.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They get this chief to come by saying, &lsquo;Here&rsquo;s a 48-hour notice so that you know that you&rsquo;re in violation,&rsquo;&rdquo; Brockschmidt said.&nbsp;&ldquo;Myself and others were constantly threatened that if you were to record, it would lead to more disciplinary action.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Nothing happened after the 48-hour notice, he said. But on Dec. 15, the LAFD Valley Bureau sent him a notice on red letterhead. &ldquo;&lsquo;As of December 15, at 0800 hours&rsquo; &mdash; or whatever it is, &lsquo;you&rsquo;re relieved of duty without pay,&rsquo;&rdquo; the letter read, according to Brockschmidt.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It was that day that they took away my pay and imposed discipline back in 2021. And I was on leave without pay for over two years,&rdquo; Brockschmidt said. &ldquo;Not only was I on leave without pay for over two years, I was never given the chance to defend myself and argue my case for that time.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>Avoiding Due Process<\/h2>\n<p>The Los Angeles firefighters&rsquo; union challenged the city, and an arbitrator <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailyjournal.com\/articles\/377412-la-sues-to-vacate-arbitration-award-in-firefighter-vaccination-case\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ruled<\/a> in the firefighters&rsquo; favor in November 2023. &ldquo;The ruling was that we be made square, basically, so full backpay and all kinds of stuff,&rdquo; Brockschmidt said. He said the LAFD still owes him hundreds of thousands of dollars in back pay.<\/p>\n<p>He said many firefighters were off duty without pay at the time, and the chief soon allowed a handful who submitted exemption requests back to work. But Brockschmidt said the LAFD should have called all firefighters back to duty since their numbers were so <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/2023\/06\/21\/los-angeles-department-employees-are-overworked-is-the-homeless-crisis-responsible\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">low<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Why not bring all of us back?&rdquo; Brockschmidt said. &ldquo;Logically speaking, good-faith speaking, that&rsquo;s what would happen. Obviously, that&rsquo;s not the case.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Fire department officials kept Brockschmidt &mdash; who hadn&rsquo;t yet submitted an exemption &mdash; and many <a href=\"https:\/\/uflac.org\/lw-grievance-table\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">other<\/a> firefighters off duty, he said, though the LAFD did begin paying him again from December 2023 to February 2024.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But in February, officials began his hearing with the &ldquo;board of rights,&rdquo; an internal review board. During the hearing, they took away his pay again. Brockschmidt said the board hearings usually only last a few days, as officials appointed to the board make it their &ldquo;priority.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They aren&rsquo;t supposed to do anything else but be on this board and be available for this stuff, outside of emergency things,&rdquo; Brockschmidt said. &ldquo;That wasn&rsquo;t the case.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>He pled &ldquo;not guilty&rdquo; with the board, and his next hearing was set for April. Meanwhile, he says he was still not being paid &mdash; stuck in &ldquo;limbo.&rdquo; In April, Brockschmidt filled out a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/religious-los-angeles-employees-sue-city-over-discriminatory-vaccine-mandate\/\" title=\"Religious Los Angeles Employees Sue City\u00a0Over Discriminatory Vaccine Mandate\">religious exemption form<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I talked to my pastor at church and everything. I was like, &lsquo;Everything about this is wrong, registering my belief,&rsquo;&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I filled it out. I didn&rsquo;t block out anything, I filled it to the T, submitted it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Days later, he said, the LAFD&rsquo;s Covid-19 Exemption Review Committee denied the request.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;You must give it a good faith, interactive process before denying someone&rsquo;s religious beliefs,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;Obviously they didn&rsquo;t care.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>So Brockschmidt and a coworker drafted an appeal. &ldquo;All we did was state how they can&rsquo;t deny it,&rdquo; he said.&nbsp;Within 24 hours, he said, it was approved &mdash; but not by the exemption committee. &ldquo;We got an approval email signed by &lsquo;Fire,&rsquo;&rdquo; Brockschmidt said. &ldquo;No name, no committee, just &lsquo;fire.&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Brockschmidt said employees were allowed to file a religious exemption up until their termination, and he secured this exemption in April &mdash; before arguments had even started in his board of rights hearing.<\/p>\n<p>Brockschmidt used a notarized letter and Los Angeles&rsquo; accommodation form to request a religious exemption. &ldquo;Employees who hold a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">sincerely held religious belief<\/a> will be engaged in an interactive process and accommodated, absent an undue hardship to the City,&rdquo; reads the fine print on the official form.<\/p>\n<h2>Ex Post Facto<\/h2>\n<p>Despite securing his exemption, Brockschmidt was set for more board hearings that summer &mdash; even after the city <a href=\"https:\/\/abc7.com\/post\/la-city-council-ends-employee-covid-19-vaccine\/14936871\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rescinded<\/a> its vaccine mandate in June. He said he made various requests to return to duty, which officials denied.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not in effect anymore. You cannot discipline on this thing anymore,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m like, &lsquo;Well, what the hell? Why are they not putting me back?&rsquo;&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Chief can do whatever she wants, anytime she wants to. If she wants the board to stop, she can stop it.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>As the Federalist previously reported, Chief Kristin Crowley has been busy <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/01\/15\/la-fire-chief-made-dei-one-of-departments-top-priorities-docs-show\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subverting<\/a> the department with DEI.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>After Brockschmidt&rsquo;s repeated attempts, officials let him begin working again. In late July 2024, Brockschmidt was back on the job for the first time since 2021, and he resumed working for nearly a month. But he had his final board of rights hearing in late August.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;They came to a decision to terminate me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;&lsquo;Should it have occurred in a timely manner, this decision would be made before the rescission and I would have been terminated.&rsquo; They also viewed me submitting a religious exemption as disrespectful and undermining, and I think manipulative, not only to the city of L.A., but to the citizens we serve.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<figure>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>Board of rights&rsquo; ruling in Brockschmidt&rsquo;s case, p. 1. Courtesy | Edward Brockschmidt&rsquo;s attorney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>Ruling, p. 2. Courtesy | Edward Brockschmidt&rsquo;s attorney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>Ruling, p. 3. Courtesy | Edward Brockschmidt&rsquo;s attorney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>Brockschmidt&rsquo;s notice of removal. Courtesy | Edward Brockschmidt&rsquo;s attorney<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Brockschmidt was fired on Aug. 29, 2024. He said some boards of rights reviewed cases in earnest &mdash; but his &ldquo;chose to use that as a weapon.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There was this animosity toward me,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The decision to terminate seemed to be motivated by my declaration of religious beliefs and approved exemption.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Logan Washburn is a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lawsuit-clark-county-keeps-commercial-addresses-on-voter-rolls\/\" title=\"Lawsuit: Clark County Keeps Commercial Addresses On Voter Rolls\">staff writer covering election integrity<\/a>. He is a spring 2025 fellow of The College Fix. He graduated from Hillsdale College, served as Christopher Rufo&#8217;s editorial assistant, and has bylines in The Wall Street Journal, The Tennessean, and The Daily Caller. Logan is from Central Oregon but now lives in rural Michigan.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Los Angeles Firefighter Edward Brockschmidt faced ongoing issues after returning to duty<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":507,"featured_media":2396632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/22797348233_5112345d15_k-e1685996462937.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[3774,20228,36585,5670,23907],"class_list":["post-2396631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-covid-19","tag-firefighter","tag-los-angeles","tag-vaccination","tag-wildfires"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/22797348233_5112345d15_k-e1685996462937.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396631","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\/507"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2396631"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396631\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2396635,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2396631\/revisions\/2396635"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2396632"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2396631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2396631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2396631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}