By Steve Pomper
Mike Solan, president of the Seattle Police Officers Guild, according to KING 5 News, has announced that, after Monday Oct. 18th, Mayor Jenny Durkan will not immediately fire police officers who have refused, in opposition to a city mandate, to provide the city with private medical records documenting they have received the mRNA injection.
The city will provide employees with a Loudermill hearing prior to termination. It’s not exactly magnanimous on the Durkan’s part, though; it’s the law. However, Seattle city leaders don’t exactly have a good history of adherence to laws they don’t like, so following the law for them is often a crapshoot.
Emerging from a 1985 Supreme Court decision, police officers, generally, have a right to due process before being terminated from employment. Being fired is obviously the most severe form of discipline any employer can impose against an employee. The court ruled employees have a right to have their offense and the evidence substantiating it explained and to defend themselves.
“In Cleveland Board of Education v. Loudermill, (1985), the Supreme Court held that employees with a property interest in their jobs are entitled to certain due process rights prior to termination. These rights include oral or written notice of the charges against them, an explanation of the employer’s evidence, and an opportunity to be heard in response to the proposed action.
“Loudermill rights are applicable in instances when the employee may have a loss of pay, such as suspension, termination, or demotion.”
- Employer has to serve charges on employee in writing.
- Loudermill hearing must be at least 24 hours after the service of the charges.
- After the hearing, the employee can be suspended; with or without pay, pending the outcome of formal disciplinary charges.
Considering the recent treatment of state employees by the Washington State Patrol (WSP), it’s likely the city, like the state, will treat the officers’ Loudermill Hearings as pretend due process. The WSP granted state troopers religious exemptions but then denied those troopers the accommodations required to remain on the job, rendering the exemptions rubbish.
In Seattle, Durkan imposed a city mandate that aligned with Gov. Jay Inslee’s vax mandate, which he created to align with the Biden administration’s mRNA injection mandate. Talk about the blind, leading the blind, leading the blind.
And the future does not bode well for Seattle cops after Durkan’s reign, as it appears the city, once again, will elect either the radical anti-cop leftist Lorena Gonzalez or the slightly less radical, thin-skinned former city council member Bruce Harrell, who is actually a nice guy to chat with over a cup of coffee but hates people writing negative stuff about him, especially if it’s true (sorry Bruce).
About the vax mandate for cops and firefighters, Gonzalez said, “I strongly believe that it is important for all of our public employees to receive the vaccine.”
Harrell said, “I expect you to take your oath to office, to the point where you realize you have to lead with the vaccination, so this is not the place for you in Seattle.”
So, for Gonzalez and Harrell, it’s typical leftist authoritarianism: Do what we say, no matter what, or you’re fired. Your years of dedicated service mean nothing to us.
As for Mayor “Summer of Love,” her office said, “city firefighters are required to be vaccinated for hepatitis, so they said the requirement for a COVID-19 vaccine is no different.”
That is an insult to a firefighter’s intelligence (and this is a cop saying that) and a lie.
The difference is profound. The mRNA injections are still experimental and have been around for mere months. And hepatitis vaccines have been around for decades, which is obviously significant, unless your aim is to intentionally obscure reality.
Also, you’ll notice the mayor didn’t use the “required to be vaccinated” argument to bolster her position regarding police officers. That’s likely because, for the cops, the city encourages the Hepatitis vaccine, but it remains voluntary.
If the mayor wanted to be consistent then, logically, shouldn’t the mayor’s office make the following statement?
City police officers are encouraged to be vaccinated for hepatitis, so they said the requirement for a COVID-19 vaccine is no different.
But that’s not how things work in the anti-cop leftist universe. Their arguments only work in one direction, left. Have you ever noticed how every single “health mandate” inflicted by blue jurisdictions against cops and other employees just happens to validate a leftist political agenda and empower leftist politicians? Every. Single. One.