Eight employees fired for not complying with the MBTA’s vaccine mandate will be given the opportunity to return to work, following the T’s decision to remove the pandemic-era restriction.
The MBTA rescinded its vaccine mandate, which was implemented in October 2021, on Dec. 2, 2022, according to a memo sent to employees by outgoing General Manager Steve Poftak that was shared with the Herald.
In the memo, Poftak said “we now know that being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting COVID-19” and cited updated CDC guidelines regarding identical quarantine and isolation protocols for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals as reasons for removing the policy.
“As a result of the vaccine policy being rescinded, (eight) previously non-compliant employees will be offered an opportunity to return to work, if vacancies exist, through a negotiated settlement agreement with their respective union,” MBTA spokesperson Lisa Battiston said.
The eight employees are all bus drivers and members of the MBTA’s largest union, the Boston Carmen’s Local 589. They are not currently slated to receive back pay.
“At the encouragement of the Local, the MBTA has agreed to provide a return-to-work option for a group of less than 10 members who were terminated by the employer under the MBTA’s prior guidelines which had been upheld by the courts despite legal challenges lodged by the Local dating back to 2021,” the Boston Carmen’s Union said in a statement.
“Like other employers, the MBTA has recently modified related guidelines both for new hires and for previously hired workers. The courts had previously ruled against challenges by the Local and several other Locals with regard to the prior guidelines, which impacted the Local’s ability to secure earlier return-to-work options,” the statement said.
The MBTA did not comment on whether employees from other unions would be provided the same opportunity to return to work.
In September, MBTA Senior Director of Labor Relations Ahmad Barnes said there was a 94% compliance rate among the T’s 6,374 employees.
Eighty employees, or about 1% of the workforce, had chosen not to get vaccinated in violation of the prior policy, setting off a three-strike process that ultimately results in termination, Barnes said.
Twenty-eight employees had been suspended, eight of whom were bus drivers. He told the board that further discipline for those employees had been paused, due to ongoing negotiations around the vaccine mandate with the Carmen’s Union.
At the same meeting, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch sought a legal opinion on whether the MBTA Board of Directors could vote to remove the vaccine mandate, citing the T’s continued hiring difficulties.
