3 LAPD employees fired for violating vaccine mandate, 7 pending

Three Los Angeles Police Department employees have been fired for violating the city’s mandate to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive a religious or medical exemption, LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi told the Police Commission Tuesday.

Seven other employees are pending termination proceedings, and a total of 14 personnel — 13 sworn and one civilian — have been found to not be in compliance with the vaccination mandate, Choi said.

About 83% of the department is fully vaccinated, 0.4% is partially vaccinated and 16.2% is not vaccinated. More than 2,000 exemptions are pending. Medical exemptions are available to people who tested positive for COVID-19 recently, as those individuals get a 90-day exemption.

City Councilman Joe Buscaino, who is running for mayor, on Friday called for the city’s employee vaccination mandate to be repealed, saying he believes “it should be a matter of personal choice and that we should respect our employees’ civil liberties and allow them to make their own personal medical decisions.”

The mandate for city employees to be vaccinated was approved by the City Council on Aug. 18. Employees were required to be inoculated against COVID-19 by Dec. 18.

More from Los Angeles