WEST ORANGE, NJ — A COVID-19 vaccine mandate for township employees has left members of the West Orange Fire and Police departments on unpaid leave because they have not been vaccinated against the virus and there is not an option to be tested rather than vaccinated in order to report to work. According to Council President Cindy Matute-Brown at an Oct. 26 council meeting, 99 percent of the township’s non-uniformed staff has been vaccinated. The mandate required all employees to be vaccinated by Oct. 15.
According to township public information officer Joseph Fagan in a phone interview with the West Orange Chronicle on Nov. 9, there are nine police officers from the West Orange Police Department who are unvaccinated, seven WOFD employees and one non-uniformed employee. All are on unpaid leave.
“I’m concerned that there are 19 of our staff who are on unpaid leave,” Matute-Brown said at the Oct. 26 meeting, prior to the number of staff on unpaid leave decreasing to 17. “I understand the protocols and the notification that was given. Not only are they our staff and employees, but they are still also our residents, friends and neighbors.”
Matute-Brown asked the township administration to allow an option for regular COVID-19 testing for those who remain unvaccinated, as that is what state employees who are not vaccinated are subject to. In discussing the testing option, Matute-Brown pointed out that police and firefighters are more often in situations where they could be exposed to the virus and infect someone else than employees who work at Town Hall or from home.
“I don’t want to separate them from the rest of the staff, but I also think that it’s very different for first responders,” Matute-Brown said at the meeting. “While we were home, including our non-uniformed staff, they were walking into situations where COVID was a risk for them. This was before the vaccines were being talked about.”
Township CFO John Gross said at the meeting that the decision to implement a vaccine mandate for employees came at the suggestion of township medical director Michael Kelly, who made the recommendation Sept. 30. West Orange is not the only municipality in the area that has implemented a vaccine mandate; the Maplewood Township Committee passed a resolution that put one in place at its Oct. 19 meeting.
“This is not a situation that the administration is happy about in any way, shape or form,” Gross said at the WOTC meeting. “We have been talking with our unions, we continue to talk with our unions and we will continue to talk to them to discuss alternatives. No one wants this to go in the direction it’s going in right now, but it is where we are.”
Kelly is also the medical director for the West Orange School District, which also has a vaccination mandate but allows non-vaccinated staff members to test for the virus regularly. Matute-Brown said the difference of opinion from the same doctor is confusing.
“That to me is a little confusing, if not concerning, that the same medical director would have a different opinion for the Board of Ed,” she said. “I understand that our first responders have to physically go into someone’s home that may carry the possibility (of virus transmission), but our educators that are opting to test and not vaccinate are going into 24, 25, 28, however many students are in their classes’ homes by way of their students going there.”
Councilman Bill Rutherford said he would like to discuss the mandate and option for testing with the mayor in a meeting that isn’t public, because of the complicated nature of the conversation.
“Public health is the No. 1 priority,” Rutherford said at the meeting. “Having a fair process for making these decisions for the unique needs of some of our employees and including their voices as we deal with this employment matter, I think is equally important. I do believe that if we can sit down and have a frank conversation about these matters that we can come to some decision that balances both public health and the needs of our employees in a way that makes sense for everyone.”
He said he and the members of his family who are eligible to be vaccinated are, and he encouraged those who aren’t to get the vaccine.
“No one wants to spread the virus; we’re all trying to stop the virus,” Rutherford said. “I encourage everybody to be vaccinated. But we do have to make some room for exceptions, and I think that’s the conversation we should have.”
WOFD firefighter Frank Balestriere said during the public comment portion of the meeting that he has been working for the department for 16 years. He is one of the firefighters on unpaid leave.
“I continue to wear a mask and social distance,” Balestriere said. “I continue this practice while doing my job. I find it unconscionable to mandate injections without exemption, especially when the injection is a brand-new medical product still undergoing its first year of study.”
He said the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines have not been proved; this is untrue. The vaccines have been authorized for emergency use by the FDA, and the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was given official approval by the agency in August. According to the FDA, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was found to be 95-percent effective at preventing serious illness, the Moderna vaccine 94.1-percent effective, and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine 85-percent effective.
Fagan said Nov. 9 that the vaccine mandate is still in place. The employees who are on leave are unpaid as a result of their decision not to be vaccinated.
Mandatory unpaid leave continues for unvaccinated West Orange Township employees added by Amanda Valentovic on
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