Sangamon Sun

IL FOP Corrections Lodge 263 in Springfield celebrated a judge’s ruling reinstating backpay for City of Chicago employees who were fired for not getting vaccinated.

Administrative law judge Anna Hamburg-Gal made the ruling on behalf of the Illinois Labor Relations Board. The city of Chicago will have 30 days to appeal the ruling which will go to the agency’s board for review. 

“Huge W for our brothers and sisters from @FOP7Chicago and the @Chicago_Police. #congrats," IL FOP Corrections Lodge 263 said on Twitter. 

The tweet came in response to that of the Fraternal Order of Police - Chicago Lodge #7. 

“HUGE COVID RULING! The Illinois Labor Relations Board just issued a ruling on behalf of organized labor that said that the City of Chicago must remove all Covid related discipline and reinstate any employee terminated with all backpay, plus 7% interest on that backpay. HUGE WIN!” the FOP said on Twitter.

Fraternal Order of Police President John Catanzara, Jr. also celebrated the ruling. 

“Today's a great day for labor in Chicago and the state of Illinois,” Catanzara said in a video.“The Illinois Labor Relations Board just issued a ruling on behalf of AFSCME and Coop who filed a complaint over the city's COVID policy, just like we did back in 2021. They have their hearing completed, obviously, and the administrative law judge ruled that the city needs to take away all discipline that's been imposed because of that policy and reinstate any terminated employees with full back pay and 7% interest for any loss. They're to be made whole - salary, benefits and everything.” 

Catanzara said “It's a pretty resounding win for labor" in Chicago as well as in the state. "We also had a labor board case that was slated to be heard on all of these same issues in July of this year.”

The ruling comes as Pfizer was revealed to have lobbied organizations to coerce those hesitant into receiving the vaccine which has been proven ineffective in stopping transmission of Covid, according to reporting from Lee Fang. The Chicago Urban League - which received $100,000 from Pfizer - was one of those entities lobbied by Pfizer to get out Covid messaging. 

“The health and safety factor here far outweighs the concern about shutting people out or creating a barrier,” Karen Freeman-Wilson, president of the Chicago Urban League, said on WTTW in August 2021.

Direct proof that heart failure brought on by the second dosage of the immunization has contributed to the deaths of young men was discovered in a mid-2022 report published in the Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine

“Myocarditis in adolescents has been diagnosed clinically following the administration of the second dose of an mRNA vaccine for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19),” the paper reads. 

This is supported by direct evidence from an autopsy, which, according to the study, was not performed in many other cases of a death that seemed suspiciously related to vaccination. James R. Gill, a professor of medicine at Yale University, is the main author. Many studies have stated that people receiving the vaccine should take this into consideration when making medical decisions given the low likelihood of mortality and/or major disease in children owing to Covid and the lack of a significant benefit from vaccines.