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Unclear what happens to Massachusetts workers in violation of vaccine requirement

The Massachusetts State Police general headquarters.
Jacqueline Tempera
/
MassLive / masslive.com
The Massachusetts State Police general headquarters.

Three days after a deadline requiring Massachusetts state employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or receive a waiver, it is unclear what may happen to the approximately 5% of the state workforce that has not met the requirement.

As of Monday, nearly 1,600 state employees were apparently in violation of the requirement that took effect the day before.

"Our goal here is to make sure we connect with everybody who hasn't already attested and find out exactly what their story is before we make any decisions,” Gov. Charlie Baker told reporters about state workers in violation of the policy he instituted. ‘The fact that 95% of our employees have attested to either being vaccinated or having filed for an exemption — and the vast, vast, vast majority have been vaccinated — I think is an indication from the state workforce that they agreed with us.” 

Punishments could include suspensions or dismissals. But those options would present a public safety challenge in light of the vaccination resistance from some state prison correction union and state police union members.

A federal judge refused to grant a preliminary injunction that would have allowed members of the Massachusetts Correction Officers Federation Union from complying with the requirement, which it claims violates its collective bargaining rights.  A state judge had previously rejected a similar request by the State Police Association of Massachusetts.

Dozens of state troopers have submitted retirement paperwork in response to the vaccine requirement. The Baker administration said Monday about 90% of the state police force has complied.

“Somebody within the administration is not sharing information, they’re not working with us,” replied Sergeant Michael Cherven, President of the State Police Association, who warned that should troopers be suspended or terminated, it could hinder the department. “We don’t have the bodies to stick in uniform.”

Chevren join us on And Another Thing.

Implementing the mandate is proceeding smoothly for many state institutions. Franklin County Sheriff Chris Donelan tells And Another Thing only four of the 200 employees of his department are not fully vaccinated. Of those four, two have received religious exemptions and two have received medical exemptions.

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