Los Angeles has ended its mandate for city employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine over a year after the country’s national emergency on the disease ended in May 2023.

The City Council voted 13-0 to end the vaccine mandate, which had applied to both preexisting and new employees. The city has also provided a way for fired employees to apply to get their jobs back, though their reemployment is not guaranteed.

“It’s been two years, nine months, and 22 days since this city intentionally and willfully devastated the lives of its dedicated employees,” attorney Jennifer Kennedy said. “You stripped careers and commands from your LAPD officers and your LAFD firefighters.”

Kennedy stated that she is representing workers in a lawsuit against the city, with the plaintiffs being employees who had been fired from their jobs due to this mandate. The plaintiffs are asking for backpay and damages in this suit.

A total of 86 employees lost their jobs from this mandate due to not complying with it.

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In January 2022, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 that a national vaccine mandate by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration could not move forward. This mandate would have required businesses with 100 or more employees to have workers either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or wear a mask and test on a weekly basis.

President Joe Biden signed a bill in April 2023 that ended the COVID-19 national emergency, with the bill going into effect a month later.