City dismisses vaccine mandate lawsuit against FOP, saying Chicago police officers are complying
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Wednesday the city has dismissed its lawsuit against the Fraternal Order of Police over the COVID vaccine mandate, citing CPD compliance.
The lawsuit has been dismissed without prejudice, the mayor said, and reiterated that "should the FOP or John Catanzara take any further action toward encouraging an illegal work stoppage or strike, we can and will immediately refile this action."
Lightfoot said that the lawsuit was initially filed for that exact reason: because Catanzara was "repeatedly calling for his members to engage in an illegal work stoppage or strike, which is strictly prohibited under Illinois Law."
But the mayor said over the past few weeks she's seen "what I have said from the beginning to be true: that our brave police officers are smarter than their FOP leadership, and care more about their city, their fellow Chicagoans, and upholding their sworn oath to protect and serve, than they do Catanzara's frivolous demands to stop working."
The mayor's statement said the city has seen the number of Chicago police officers coming into compliance with the mandate, both the reporting mandate and the mandatory vaccination policy, have grown consistently since Oct. 15.
"I have complete confidence that the entire Department will be in compliance with City policy in the near future," Lightfoot wrote.
Earlier in November a judge granted the FOP's temporary restraining, but left in place the vaccine status reporting mandate that the FOP had been fighting to block.
The ruling did not put the vaccine reporting mandate on hold, and Chicago police still faced being stripped of their police powers and being put on no-pay status if they refuse to enter their vaccinations status into the city's portal.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot's mandate for city workers to get vaccinated survived a separate court challenge, and the Chicago City Council also voted down a proposal to overturn the mandate.
