A judge on Wednesday denied a request by the Los Angeles police union that he block the city’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for police officers from taking effect.
Having rejected the Police Protective League’s petition for a temporary restraining order, California Superior Court Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff must still rule on a related request for a preliminary injunction, which would halt the mandate for officers while a lawsuit the union filed against the city over the rollout of the vaccine requirement goes forward. A court hearing on the injunction is scheduled for next month.
The judge did not explain the reasoning for his decision in court records available online Thursday.
Under the city’s mandate, all city employees including police officers are required to be fully vaccinated by Dec. 18 unless they are granted a medical or religious exemption, and agree in the run-up to the deadline to submit to regular coronavirus testing if they are unvaccinated. The union negotiated the terms of the deal with city officials, but later sued over its rollout, alleging the city negotiated in bad faith, preemptively concluded negotiations and inappropriately passed on costs for testing to officers.
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