Although it certainly seems anticlimactic, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that the City of Boston could enforce COVID-19 vaccination requirements on city employees. The plaintiffs, the Boston police and firefighters unions, filed a lawsuit challenging the City of Boston's unilateral amendment of the COVID-19 vaccination policy for all city employees. The City had defeated the union's attempt to enjoin the policy and appealed their loss to a single justice of the Appeals Court, who reversed in favor of the unions. The City then appealed to the SJC, and prevailed, with the SJC ruling: "Contrary to the decision of the single justice, the defendants need not have bargained over the decision to amend the COVID-19 policy to remove COVID-19 testing as an alternative to vaccination." The SJC held that the City had discretion to impose the vaccination requirement without bargaining with the unions, as "[t]he defendants' policy decision to amend the COVID-19 policy was based on concerns not only for the health of their employees, but also for the residents of the city, for whom the defendants were obligated to provide continued access to public safety services.
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