Some of the dozen State Police officers fired for violating the governor’s vaccine mandate say they are lawyering up.
“I’ve retained counsel,” one told the Herald.
“This is totally unfair,” a trooper’s dad added. “It’s sad the commonwealth has to do this.”
Both asked to remain anonymous as the officers try to win their jobs back. The list of staties let go includes the son of an officer tied up in the overtime scandal and others who have said in the past they dreamed of becoming troopers to follow in the footsteps of their kin.
None wanted to be identified as they hope for some reprieve via legal avenues.
As the Herald first reported, Massachusetts has terminated 12 members of the State Police — 11 troopers and one sergeant — for failing to comply with Gov. Charlie Baker’s vaccine mandate.
The troopers were let go Friday after an internal hearing process, according to State Police spokesman David Procopio. None of those fired are the seven troopers participating in an ongoing lawsuit over the mandate.
Baker, on Aug. 19, issued an executive order — No. 595 — requiring that all employees of the state’s executive branch, which includes the State Police, be vaccinated with only “limited exemptions” on religious or medical disability grounds. The order took effect in October and is enforced by “progressive discipline up to and including termination.”
All of the terminated troopers had applied for exemptions under the ground provided but were denied, according to State Police Association of Massachusetts spokesman Chris Keohan. He told the Herald that there was no framework in the law to appeal those denials.
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