A Superior Court judge will hold a hearing Wednesday in a lawsuit filed by the Massachusetts State Police union to delay Gov. Charlie Baker’s COVID vaccine mandate for state employees.
Baker is requiring all state workers to be vaccinated by Oct. 17, with limited exceptions. Those who do not provide proof of their inoculation by then could be fired.
The state police lawsuit, filed in Suffolk Superior Court, says the policy would cause “irreparable harm” if implemented.
The lawsuit asks that the mandate be halted so that the union, which represents 1,800 state police troopers and sergeants, has time to negotiate the policy before its members receive shots. The union says it has the right, as a representative of public employees, to bargain any conditions of employment.
Meeting with state negotiators and state police leadership representatives after Baker announced the vaccine order, court documents say the union asked for a weekly testing alternative for troopers who have not been vaccinated or who have already had COVID.
The union also requested that COVID infection be considered a “line-of-duty injury,” which the Boston Globe says would provide benefits to members who fall ill or die from the virus.
The state rejected the requests, the lawsuit says, and said that union members would still need to be vaccinated with their first dose by Sept. 19 or Sept. 26, depending on which vaccine they were receiving, in order to be fully inoculated by Oct 17.
Since then, the union says, the sides have not come to an agreement on the vaccination policy.
The mandate affects more than 40,000 state employees. Massachusetts has for months been one of the most vaccinated states in the country. As of Wednesday, 77% of the state has received one dose and 67% is fully vaccinated. Only three states have fully vaccinated a greater portion of their population.
State police are already preparing for a shortage in officers this year, with an incoming class of roughly 170 new troopers unable to replace over 250 retirees.
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