On January 21, 2022, in the case of Medical Freedom et al v. Biden, S.D. Tex., No. 3:21-cv-00356, 1/21/22, Judge Jeffrey V. Brown of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas granted the plaintiff’s motion for a preliminary injunction as to Executive Order 14043. As a result, the government was prohibited from implementing or enforcing EO 14043 until the case is resolved on the merits.
On January 24, 2022, in response to the injunction, the Safer Federal Workforce issued guidance to agencies, which stated, in pertinent part:
To ensure compliance with an applicable preliminary nationwide injunction, which may be supplemented, modified, or vacated, depending on the course of ongoing litigation, the Federal Government will take no action to implement or enforce the COVID-19 vaccination requirement pursuant to Executive Order 14043 on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees.
Contrary to the order by the judge and the guidance from the Safer Federal Workforce, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers (FLETC) chose not to comply with the injunction and instead actively violated the injunction by continuing to prohibit employees from attending training solely on the basis of an employee’s vaccination status.
The NBPC reached out to the Agency to find out who made the decision to violate the injunction and prevent employees from attending training based on a vaccination status. The NBPC learned that the restriction was due to FLETC. After some back and forth, FLETC finally lifted the unlawful, discriminatory practice.
