Despite warnings from unions representing front-line workers that a booster shot mandate will cripple staffing levels, Santa Clara County’s top official says county employees who didn’t start getting inoculated earlier this week will be reassigned Tuesday or could eventually be terminated.
County Executive Jeff Smith’s blunt declaration that there won’t be exceptions was in response to a joint letter six unions sent him and county supervisors raising concerns that nurses, correctional officers and other government employees in high-risk work settings already are under intense pressure dealing with a COVID-19 surge that’s taken a toll on staffing.
The unions want individual departments, not Smith, to decide whether unvaccinated employees with medical or personal exemptions could continue working in their current positions.
“Santa Clara County led the way responding to Covid, and we have done very well,” their letter read. “With these latest changes though, we’re cutting off our nose to spite our face.”
Smith replied in an email that their letter “reflects some significant misunderstanding of the different issues related to our efforts to keep people safe during the ongoing pandemic.”
In an interview, Smith said it’s not up to individual department heads to determine whether employees with exemptions could keep their current jobs. “It’s up to me,” he said.
“The basic bottom line is, staffing in the hospitals and clinics is appropriate and adequate,” Smith added. “That doesn’t mean we wouldn’t want to have more staff to do more things, but we’re not in a crisis mode by any means. When you weigh the benefits of creating a healthy environment, it’s clear that we should not waive the public health order at this point.”
Smith did say that if the staffing situation gets dire, he would reconsider. “If a lot more people get sick with COVID, or if there’s more reasons for other individuals to leave employment of the county, then we have to constantly keep track of that,” he said. “We’ll keep our eye on it.”
Supervisor Cindy Chavez, who has long been a strong supporter of the area’s public unions, said it’s appropriate that Smith has the final word but avoided saying whether she thinks his position is the right one.
“What I would say is that I think it is incredibly important that the entire county — myself included — listen very carefully to the men and women on the frontlines,” she said. “I do have a concern that we are straining our resources.”
The county public health department’s mandate, announced on Dec. 28, ordered workers in high-risk settings such as hospitals, jails and skilled-nursing facilities to get their first shot by Jan. 24 if they weren’t already vaccinated and a booster if they were.
The order initially said high-risk workers who were granted exemptions must be reassigned to “lower-risk” positions, if any are available. If there are not enough positions to move into, they could find themselves on leave or out of a job, according to the order.
But less than two weeks later, the county public health department said executives at hospitals, skilled nursing facilities and other high-risk settings could allow unvaccinated workers to retain their current jobs to avoid staffing crises.
“What was initially a County-wide health order is becoming a County-employer policy alone, but one exempted from real discussion with employees and unions,” the unions’ letter reads.
The letter was signed by the Registered Nurses Professional Association, County Employees Management Association, Deputy Sheriffs of Santa Clara County, Santa Clara County Correctional Peace Officers Association, Engineers and Architects Association IFTPE Local 21 and Probation Peace Officers’ Union 1587.
Allan Kamara, president of the nurses union that represents 3,500 people who work at county hospitals and jails, said the heads of those facilities should be able to approve waivers for their employees.
“We are in a very, very critical staffing crisis in the county where all the policies the county is making are going to devastate this community,” Kamara said.
He said there are roughly 80 county nurses from across the county who were granted booster shot exemptions but are “sitting at home” right now because of the mandate’s rules not allowing them to remain in their job.
Chavez acknowledged the dialogue over the vaccine mandate could have been better.
“Communication is critical,” she said. “We have to keep getting better at it.”
