Judge dismisses police officers’ lawsuit seeking to overturn Denver vaccine mandate

A Denver District Court justice dismissed an 11th-hour situation to Denver’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate Wednesday, a time earlier the city’s edict requires each metropolis employees and immoderate cardinal private-sector workers to taxable impervious of vaccination.

District Court Judge Shelley Gilman recovered that the tribunal did not person the jurisdiction to perceive the contented due to the fact that the constabulary officers who sued to artifact the mandate did not archetypal record an administrative ailment and exhaust administrative remedies, a request but nether definite exceptions, similar if pursuing the administrative procedures would beryllium evidently futile.

“The tribunal present finds it lacks taxable substance jurisdiction to code the issue,” she said. “While determination person been allegations that it would beryllium futile, the tribunal would find the plaintiffs person failed to found beyond a tenable uncertainty that futility.”

Seven Denver constabulary officers last week filed a suit against Mayor Michael Hancock and different officials to effort to artifact the mandate, asking Gilman to nullify the bid connected the grounds that the metropolis exceeded its authority. Hancock issued the disguise mandate Aug. 2 for each metropolis employees, citing rising COVID-19 lawsuit numbers and the fast-spreading delta variant.

The mandate besides covers immoderate workers employed by backstage businesses and organizations, including radical who enactment successful wellness care, astatine correctional facilities, and astatine nationalist and backstage schools.

The immense bulk of Denver metropolis employees already are vaccinated and person already submitted impervious of vaccination, metropolis information shows.

As of Friday, astir 82% of Denver Police Department unit and 78% of Denver Sheriff Department unit had presented impervious of vaccination. The Denver Fire Department has a vaccination complaint of 92%, connected par with the wide vaccination complaint of 92% for each metropolis employees.

This is simply a processing communicative and volition beryllium updated.