Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Rules City of Boston Could Enforce COVID-19 Vaccination Requirements on City Employees

Foley Hoag LLP
Contact

Foley Hoag LLP

Although it certainly seems anticlimactic, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the City of Boston could enforce COVID-19 vaccination requirements on city employees. The plaintiffs, the Boston police and firefighters unions, filed a lawsuit challenging the City of Boston’s unilateral amendment of the COVID-19 vaccination policy for all city employees. The City had defeated the union’s attempt to enjoin the policy and appealed their loss to a single justice of the Appeals Court, who reversed in favor of the unions. The City then appealed to the SJC, and prevailed, with the SJC ruling: “Contrary to the decision of the single justice, the defendants need not have bargained over the decision to amend the COVID-19 policy to remove COVID-19 testing as an alternative to vaccination.” The SJC held that the City had discretion to impose the vaccination requirement without bargaining with the unions, as “[t]he defendants' policy decision to amend the COVID-19 policy was based on concerns not only for the health of their employees, but also for the residents of the city, for whom the defendants were obligated to provide continued access to public safety services.

DISCLAIMER: Because of the generality of this update, the information provided herein may not be applicable in all situations and should not be acted upon without specific legal advice based on particular situations.

© Foley Hoag LLP | Attorney Advertising

Written by:

Foley Hoag LLP
Contact
more
less

Foley Hoag LLP on:

Reporters on Deadline

"My best business intelligence, in one easy email…"

Your first step to building a free, personalized, morning email brief covering pertinent authors and topics on JD Supra:
*By using the service, you signify your acceptance of JD Supra's Privacy Policy.
Custom Email Digest
- hide
- hide