Did employee lawsuit get Los Angeles Unified School District #LAUSD to back down from (i.e., delay) imposing employee COVID-19 vaccine mandate? Why aren’t more employees suing employers over these mandates? What happens if (i.e., when) vaccines get full FDA approval?
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Despite a setback in Bridges v Houston Methodist, lawsuits still seem to be a viable avenue of recourse for at-will employees who don’t want to comply w/employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates but also don’t want to lose their jobs.
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In a recent Twitter thread I showed that although 4 states (MT, AR, UT, OR) have provided some protection for employees agst employer COVID-19 vaccine mandates, there is great resistance from both Demo & Repub state leaders to ban such employer mandates
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I also argued that - altho Judge Hughes ruling applied only to TX, private employers & at-will employees - the odds of judicial relief for employees agst employer mandates appear remote w/law stacked in favor of employers & every state pushing vaccines
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Yet despite reports of increasing numbers of public & private colleges/universities & hospital systems imposing employee COVID-19 vaccine mandates, there is still hope for employees who don't want to take the vaccines & don't want to quit or be fired.
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beckershospitalreview.com/workforce/hosp… Image
Fact is that the vast majority of employers are still quite reluctant to mandate COVID-19 vaccines under Emergency Use Authorization out of fear of ugly lawsuits & public backlash. And who knows what would happen w/different state, court, judge, jury?
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However, w/rpts of growing numbers of employer vaccine mandates, it's surprising that there is so little in the media about employee lawsuits agst these mandates. Besides Houston Methodist lawsuit, only three others in CA, NC & NM have gotten attention.
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While Houston Methodist is private employer, other three lawsuits involve public employees CA (educators), NC (deputy sheriff) & NM (detention officers) but all four lawsuits similarly grounded in objections to EUA status of COVID-19 vaccines
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jdsupra.com/legalnews/firs… Image
In the Houston Methodist suit, plaintiff’s attorney Jared Woodfill filed an appeal to the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals on June 14 and the nurses have vowed to take the fight all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary
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thetexan.news/houston-nurses…
In NC federal lawsuit, on June 30 the Durham County Sheriff's Office announced that the suit over the COVID-19 vaccine requirement had been dismissed at former Deputy Christopher Neve's request but had no further comment.
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wxii12.com/article/north-…
The Legaretta/Zoccoli lawsuit in NM has not been heard in court yet but Doña Ana County is seeking dismissal citing Judge Hughes’ dismissal of the similar Houston Methodist lawsuit in its most recent filing.
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abqjournal.com/2403364/court-… Image
The origins of the California lawsuit go back to Jan 29 Q&A session, LAUSD reps informed Teamsters Local 572 rep “All District employees will be required to be vaccinated. No exceptions have been made. . . .”
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At Feb 17 meeting of Harbor Area United Teachers Los Angeles (one of 8 UTLA geographic areas) wrote & passed motion "opposing LAUSD's intent to make the vaccine a condition of employment & respect individual UTLA member choice in regards to receiving any COVID-19 vaccine"
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UTLA leaders refused to allow discussion of motion ("Their message is: lineup and take it like a slave and don't ask questions."), these Harbor Area UTLA members organized a group "California Educators for Medical Freedom"
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educatorsformedicalfreedom.com Image
LAUSD "mandate" made even more clear in March 4 memo from Linda Del Cueto, LAUSD Chief Human Resources Officer to local district superintendents w/"Vaccination Guidance for Employees" clearly indicating vax mandatory ("You will provide proof")
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secureservercdn.net/72.167.242.48/… ImageImage
Defendant Del Cueto also made verbal statement in presence of Plaintiff Quintero to effect that vaccine is mandatory & any refusal by an employee to get vaccinated will trigger disciplinary action
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March 17 California Educators for Medical Freedom (CEFM) & other LAUSD teachers & staff members filed lawsuit in US District Court in Los Angeles against LAUSD with - different from the other mandate lawsuits - “demand for a jury trial”
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secureservercdn.net/72.167.242.48/… Image
Apr 15 CEFM filed "Motion for Preliminary Injunction re Enforcing a mandatory policy of vaccination agst COVID-19, so long as the vaccines being so administered under such a policy remain experimental" w/hearing set for May 17 but withdrawn on May 12
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dockets.justia.com/docket/califor… Image
May 3 LAUSD filed motion to dismiss the case w/hearing set for June 7
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dockets.justia.com/docket/califor… Image
May 8 San Diego Union-Tribune reported, according to California School Boards Association spokesman Troy Flint, "K-12 schools or districts, on their own, cannot require the COVID vaccines while the vaccines only have EUA"
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sandiegouniontribune.com/news/education…
The Union-Tribune article added "Similarly school districts have not required the COVID vaccine for their staff." But it is unclear whether Troy Flint said this and what he (or the reporter) might have meant by "similarly"? K-12 districts can't mandate EUA vaccine for staff?
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May 28 report at EIN Presswire that “LAUSD Superintendent Beutner & HR Head Del Cueto Back Down After Employees Sue Over Their Illegal COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate" (see 1st tweet) but only source is San Diego Union-Tribune article that says NO SUCH THING
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einpresswire.com/article_print/… Image
But June 20 ABC News reported LAUSD in statement said "LAUSD has not mandated COVID-19 vaccinations for employees. Instead, we are providing access to the vaccine for all who work in schools & encouraging them to get vaccinated. The choice is theirs."
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abcnews.go.com/Business/covid… Image
John W. Howard, the CEMF lawyer, told ABC News that he has offered to settle the case if LAUSD will just state on court record that they will not require vaccination unless the vaccines are approved by FDA & removed from EUA status. Howard said "They [LAUSD] have refused.”
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I'm not certain where the lawsuit stands at this point but there is no news in the media or CEMF website it was settled. There is also nothing on LAUSD website on vaccine mandate altho "Vaccination Site Employees Only" is only accessible by employees.
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achieve.lausd.net/covidvaccine Image
So did LAUSD indeed back off the COVID-19 vaccine mandate due to the employee lawsuit? It sure appears so b/c as late as March LAUSD was pushing hard for a mandate but on June 20 they admitted to ABC that there was no mandate
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But the fact that LAUSD is refusing to state on court record that will only require vaccines with full FDA approval suggests that LAUSD still wants to maintain the principle that they have the authority to mandate an EUA vaccine if they decide to.
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So it seems that the lawsuit is in a holding pattern with neither side concerned to press the issue of whether it is legal for a California school district to mandate EUA vaccine as long as LAUSD doesn't mandate EUA vaccine & LAUSD perhaps concerned might lose in jury trial
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If the CEMF lawsuit did indeed get LAUSD to back off on its EUA Covid-19 vaccine mandate, a similar legal strategy would seemingly be good strategy for employees in other K-12 school districts - and possibly colleges & universities - to fight the same kind of employer mandate
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A recent advisory from the General Counsel for California Community Colleges cited CEMF lawsuit as the kind of litigation that colleges & universities could avoid by waiting until vaccines received full FDA approval before imposing a vaccine mandate.
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cccco.edu/-/media/CCCCO-… ImageImage
The threat of litigation may have been one of the reasons San Joaquin Delta College (Stockton, CA) withdrew its EUA Covid-19 vaccine mandate on July 6, only NINE days after voting for the mandate requiring all employees, students & visitors be vaxxed
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thecollegefix.com/community-coll…
But of the over 500 colleges & universities that have enacted EUA Covid-19 vaccine mandates that typically apply to students & employees equally, I have not seen any reports of any employee lawsuit (although there are some student lawsuits)
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bestcolleges.com/blog/list-of-c…
Analysis of location of EUA Covid-19 vaccine mandate schools shows 10 states w/no mandate schools all voted Repub in 2020 pres election. The 17 states & DC w/both private & public schools (except Indiana) voted Dem. The states w/only private schools split 13 Repub & 10 Dem.
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Divisions in location of EUA Covid-19 vaccine mandate schools are apparently NOT due to well publicized state bans (either by legislation or executive order) on Covid-19 vaccine passports. (These bans do not explicitly mention EUA status of vaccines.)
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usnews.com/news/best-stat…
In 15 of 23 states where only private schools have EUA mandates, there is NO passport ban & in 4 of the states (FL, IA, SC, TX) the ban supposedly applies to both public & private businesses.
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Four of the 10 states (AL, AK, KS, MS) with NO EUA mandates schools have NO passport ban while in three states (AR, ID, WY) the ban only applies to public agencies. Only three (MT, ND, SD) have public & private ban & in ND the ban actually exempts colleges.
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These passport bans further do NOT ban public or private employer EUA vaccine mandates as condition of employment as is clear from failed efforts in 20 states to pass laws banning employer mandates. (Only passed in UT & AR for public employers & MT for both public & private.)
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It seems unlikely that a school would mandate an EUA vaccine for students w/o also mandating one for employees, but #MSM legal opinion states ALL public & private schools (exc in AR, UT & MT) have authority to issue such mandates for at-will employees albeit w/legal risks
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Perhaps concerned about CEMF-like lawsuits, a few public schools (CUNY, SUNY, U Vermont) have made Covid-19 vaccine mandates contingent on full FDA approval. Some states divided like CSU System (full FDA) vs UC System (EUA) in California & Colorado, W&M (full FDA) in VA.
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To avoid the kind of decision like that Judge Hughes handed down in Bridges v Houston Methodist, I would think a CEMF-like employee lawsuit would have the greatest chance of success against a PUBLIC institution of higher learning with a JURY TRIAL
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Whether an employee lawsuit would fare better in a red or blue state is unclear but I have argued elsewhere that employees would have a stronger legal ground in one of the 17 states with a “public good” exception to the at-will employment doctrine
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Of course, as already discussed re CEMF v LAUSD, the point of the employee lawsuit is not necessarily to reach some final verdict but simply to get the employer to back off on the EUA vaccine mandate
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More from @drbairdonline

11 Jul
Recent "correspondence" in The Lancet pushes "official" PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE lies reported by so-called "fact checkers" within hours of Aug 2020 Beirut explosion in saying explosion happened when "a fire set off 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate"
1/
thelancet.com/journals/lance…
Almost ONE YEAR after the Aug 2020 blast & NO ONE has seriously challenged my analysis that concludes ONLY a 5+ kT Minimum Residual Radiation ("clean") nuke could have blasted the 43-m (141-ft) deep Beirut crater & left no detectable radioactive fallout
2/
Yet prestigious medical journal @TheLancet tweets non-peer reviewed "correspondence" from Hana Mansour et al claim that Beirut explosion "one of the most powerful non-nuclear explosions in history" as if it were "fact"
3/
Read 11 tweets
22 Jun
While at-will & contract employees across US sue in state & federal courts for judicial relief, states like Montana & Arkansas have led the way in banning private & public employer Covid-19 vaccine mandates as condition of employment
Thread
1/
In the first federal ruling on vaccine mandates, U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes in Bridges v Houston Methodist ruled on June 12 that employers could mandate Covid-19 vaccination but ruling applied only to TEXAS, PRIVATE employers & AT-WILL employees
2/
On June 14, plaintiff’s attorney Jared Woodfill filed an appeal to the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals where Judge Hughes has second-lowest affirmance rate (72%) in his district
3/
thetexan.news/houston-nurses…
reuters.com/article/legal-…
Read 37 tweets
19 Sep 20
A month ago I made the case that an underground 5+ kT 3rd-generation nuke was responsible for the 2020 Beirut blast. Could an array of several such 3rd-generation nukes have been responsible for the utter destruction of the WTC on 9/11?
Thread
1/
Besides 2020 Beirut, I’ve also made the case recently that 3rd-generation Minimum Residual Radiation SADMs w/yield 10-20 kT TNT equiv were used in 1983 US Marine barracks bombing, four mega-blasts in 1990s England & 2005 Beirut blast that killed former Lebanese PM Rafiq Hariri
2/ ImageImageImage
This thread picks up from where I left off in another long thread examining where the immense energy needed to destroy the WTC on 9/11 & maintain hot spots in the ground for 99 days could have come from
3/
Read 34 tweets
11 Sep 20
WHERE could the immense ENERGY needed to destroy the WTC on 9/11 AND maintain hot spots in the ground for 99 days have come from? Many observers have judged NO WAY could gravity & ANY chemical source (e.g., nanothermite) have provided sufficient ENERGY. So WHERE?
Thread
1/ ImageImage
On day of 9/11, #MSM - as if reading from some "official" script - propagandized the idea that it was practically INEVITABLE that fuel-filled jetliners flying into the Twin Towers combined w/force of gravity would cause the utter destruction of the WTC
2/
Despite the shock & awe of 9/11, some doubters like Peter Meyer, started questioning the "official" story of the inevitable "collapse" of the Twin Towers almost immediately, suggesting it had to be some form of "controlled demolition."
3/
serendipity.li/wtc_0913.html ImageImage
Read 62 tweets
2 Sep 20
1983 bombing of US Marine barracks in Beirut called repeatedly “the largest non-nuclear explosion ever" (or since WWII). This propaganda served many purposes, incl possibly providing cover for what was actually an Israeli “clean” micro-nuke that Joe Vialls ID'ed in 2002
Thread
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Although hardly "the largest non-nuclear explosion since WWII" or otherwise, the 1983 Beirut blast that killed 241 US military personnel was certainly the most powerful "terrorist" explosive device as of that date, based on the force of the explosion alone.
2/ ImageImageImage
The pile of rubble stretched as far as 70 meters from where the 4-story Battalion Landing Team (BLT) bldg had been & rose to height of at least 15 ft. At the pile's center was a massive crater initially reported as 30-40 ft wide & 20-40 ft deep in what was the BLT lobby floor.
3/ Image
Read 47 tweets
24 Aug 20
If Aussie reporter Joe Vialls was right that a “clean” underground MICRO-NUKE caused 2005 Beirut explosion, was he was also right that MICRO-NUKES blasted Central London TWICE - Baltic Exchange 1992 & Bishopsgate 1993? What about 1996 Docklands & 1996 Manchester blasts?
Thread
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I discuss evidence that Vialls - writing just days after 2005 blast that killed fmr PM Rafik Hariri & destroyed much of downtown Beirut - was on right track in asserting an underground "clean" micro-nuke was cause of the explosion in this long thread
2/
Image
Back in 1993 Vialls thought it strange THREE quite similar "mega-blasts" - 1992 Baltic Exchange & 1993 Bishopsgate & 1993 WTC - should happen in just over a year: all detonated in high-profile business districts, no scorch marks & Richter-scale shocks
3/
web.archive.org/web/2005070900… Image
Read 44 tweets

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