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Published: 2022-04-06 14:06:00 Updated: 2022-04-06 22:56:25
Posted April 6, 2022 2:06 p.m. EDT Updated April 6, 2022 10:56 p.m. EDT
By Sydney Franklin, WRAL multiplatform producer
Raleigh, N.C. — Sixty-eight Raleigh police officers, firefighters and city workers say the "City of Raleigh is waging a multi-front war on discrimination" in a lawsuit filed over the city's COVID-19 vaccine policy.
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit said they want the court to strike down the city's COVID-19 polices, award back pay for time spent testing, attorneys fees and any other damages the court sees fit.
On Monday, city officials announced a surcharge would be applied on its health care plan for unvaccinated employees starting in January of 2023. The $50 surcharge would be for employees, retirees, GoRaleigh employees and covered spouses who are unvaccinated.
Smithfield-based lawyer James Lawrence of Daughtry, Woodard, Lawrence, & Starling is representing the city employees filling the suit. In the suit, Lawrence argues Raleigh's vaccine requirements violate state law and city policy on discrimination. He also argued that hte policy was put in place without full approval from the city council.
"The city leadership issued this mandate unilaterally," Lawrence said.
In a statement, the city said the surcharge served as a COVID-19 prevention strategy.
"In accordance with the City of Raleigh’s duty to provide and maintain a workplace that is free of known hazards, we are adding this requirement to safeguard the health of our employees and their families, our customers and visitors, and the community at large from infectious diseases that may be reduced by vaccinations," city officials said in a statement.
Prior to that, Raleigh required unvaccinated employees to get routine testing. That was lifted, but the city stood by a policy that kept them from getting promoted.
The lawsuit filed by city workers said Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin and City Manager Marchell Adams-David sent a statement to employees that unvaccinated workers would not be promoted.
"Plaintiffs could have abandoned their posts at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic and followed city leadership's example by staying 'safer at home.' There is no 'remote work' option for responding to domestic violence, shootings, car accidents, fires or riots in downtown Raleigh," the lawsuit stated.
The lawsuit said many employees have left working for the city to find employment in other jurisdictions that "respect an individual's right to make their own health care choices."
"Because city leadership disagrees with their personal decision to decline COVID-19 vaccines, the city limits their career prospects, forcing plaintiffs to choose between putting a vaccine into their bodies that they have serious questions and concerns about and looking for career advancement elsewhere," the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit stated that workers involved in the lawsuit have more than 700 years of combined experience.
Raleigh's vaccine requirements have been in place since August 2021, during the start of the Delta surge.
In July 2021, the U.S. Justice Department issued an opinion, saying public and private employers alike could impose vaccine and testing requirements. Raleigh did both.
Data from the state Department of Health and Human Services showed 83 percent of the population in Wake County have received either two doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or one dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
As COVID-19 cases have fallen, the city has lifted its testing requirement for unvaccinated employees.
Lawrence explained what the 68 city employees seek.
"They're asking for back pay, with respect to the time they spent testing, which was on their own time and dime, and they're asking for the promotion bar to be lifted," Lawrence said.
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