The Florida attorney general has sided with first-responders in Orange County who filed a lawsuit this month challenging a local policy that requires county employees to get the COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment.
More than 40 Orange County Fire and Rescue workers are suing in the Ninth Judicial Circuit to overturn the county’s vaccine mandate, arguing that the mandate is unlawful and unconstitutional. An executive order by county Mayor Jerry Demings requires nearly all of the county’s 8,000 public employees to get the vaccination, unless they gain exemptions due to religious or medical concerns.
In a news release, Attorney General Ashley Moody said her legal filing in support of the first-responders comes as an Orange County fire rescue battalion chief was fired for failing to comply with the vaccine mandate.
“These local politicians are abusing their authority and trying to ruin the careers of so many of our courageous firefighters,” Moody said in a prepared statement. “While local leaders may be turning their backs on first-responders, I will not.”
The county’s vaccination policy violates a provision of state law that bars government agencies from requiring people to provide documents showing they’ve been vaccinated for coronavirus in order to access government operations, she said. But Demings took a different line in public comments that were provided to the Florida Record.
“We still have not received notification from the state in any form that they were fining Orange County,” Demings said. “I fundamentally believe that when it comes to protecting people here in Orange County, we not only have a moral responsibility but as an employer an absolute responsibility to keep our community safe.”
The county is on solid legal ground with its vaccine policy, and county officials look forward to presenting the facts about that policy in the courts, according to Demings. In addition, there have been discussions with county labor unions about the discipline employees would face for not complying with county directives, he said.
“There has been no court that has said the actions we have taken have been unlawful,” Demings said.
Moody said in her legal brief that Florida is already facing a shortage of first-responders and that the firing of emergency personnel over the vaccine issue could lead to longer response times and thus pose a threat to public safety.