Los Angeles Eases COVID Protocols: City Workers Get a Reprieve from Mandatory Testing
On Tuesday, a city directive that said Los Angeles City employees who hadn’t had the COVID-19 vaccine had to take a test was officially revoked.
The 13 members of the Los Angeles City Council got rid of the COVID test law for employees, but it could be brought back if the COVID-19 transmission situation gets worse in the future.
Any city employees who incurred out-of-pocket expenses for the tests would be compensated. The motion became effective right away.
All city employees were subject to a COVID-19 immunization requirement starting in August 2021, except for medical or religious exemptions. Individuals who were granted a medical or religious exemption had to present a clean COVID-19 test result once every week in order to keep their jobs. The testing was intended to be free of charge for the employees, but the city’s “last, best, and last offer” imposed a requirement that employees take two exams each week and pay for them out of pocket.
An “effective technique for identifying COVID-19 infected individuals as a means of monitoring the transmission of the disease in order to prevent significant outbreaks” was how the ordinance was described.
Starting in May 2022, city employees who haven’t been vaccinated will only have to get tested once a week. This is because the spread of the virus has slowed down over time.
Before the Los Angeles Police Protective League went to court to fight the city’s policy and won, people who hadn’t been vaccinated paid for these tests. The ruling said that the city couldn’t charge its employees for COVID-19 testing.
In October 2022, Los Angeles County stopped requiring COVID testing, but it was up to each city to figure out how to move forward.
If the testing requirement is brought back at a later date, city employees will be told ahead of time.
