Allegheny County police union files suit over vaccine mandate

The union that represents the Allegheny County Police Department is suing the county over a mandate that all executive branch employees be vaccinated against covid-19, alleging that it is a mandatory subject of collective bargaining.

The complaint, filed last week in Common Pleas Court, seeks an injunction to halt the mandate, set to become effective on Dec. 1, claiming it infringes on the officers’ “bodily autonomy with no public health justification.”

“The county’s mandate requires the plaintiff association’s members to take a vaccine without their consent and against the expert medical advice of their doctors, thereby depriving them of their ability to refuse unwanted medical care,” the complaint said.

Allegheny County spokeswoman Amie Downs said the administration anticipated challenges to the vaccine requirement.

“But we still think it’s the right thing to do,” she said. “We hope that all of our employees will see that this effort protects them, their families, their co-workers and the residents that we serve.”

According to the complaint, the Allegheny County Police Association includes all full-time county police officers and currently has 203 members. Of those, approximately 77% are vaccinated against covid-19 and another 36 have tested positive for the virus. Sixty-one others were exposed or were symptomatic, while 14 of those tested negative.

The union, the complaint said, has the sole right to bargain for the employees regarding pay, wages, hours and other mandatory subjects. It contends that the vaccine is one such subject.

In early August, the county announced that all executive branch employees who had not provided proof of vaccination must wear face coverings while indoors and undergo weekly nasal swab testing. But on Sept. 29, the county announced that all county police bargaining unit employees must be vaccinated or face termination.

“The county did not indicate that any or all medical or religious exemptions provided by employees would actually be accepted,” the complaint said.

The union filed an unfair labor practice charge on Sept. 30 with the Pennsylvania Labor Relations Board, alleging that the vaccine mandate is a mandatory subject of collective bargaining, and that the county acted unilaterally in imposing it.

However, it also filed the complaint in Common Pleas Court, alleging that employees will only have until late October to be vaccinated or face possible termination given the length of time required to be considered fully vaccinated under both the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Throughout the complaint, the union cites data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as medical journals, to defend its position that the vaccines are neither necessary nor effective in preventing the virus.

In addition, the complaint notes that mandating vaccines under only an emergency use authorization is “legally and ethically problematic,” and can be seen as “ongoing medical research.”

The Pfizer vaccine received FDA approval in August.

“Coercing employees to receive a vaccine (whether approved under and [Emergency Use Authorization] or fully by the FDA) for a virus that presents a near-zero risk of illness or death to them and which they are exceedingly unlikely to pass on to others because those employees already possess natural immunities to the virus, violates the liberty and privacy interests that the Ninth and 14th Amendments protect,” the complaint said.

It also talks about the number of adverse reactions or deaths that have occurred following vaccination.

“Logically, one cannot be certain about the long-term effects of a vaccine that has not been in existence for the long term and thus cannot have been studied over a span of years,” it said.