The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) is offering jobs back to eight former employees that it fired for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
The former MBTA employees were fired after Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker issued Executive Order No. 595, in August of 2021. The order required all state-level executive branch employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19, including MBTA employees.
MBTA recently rescinded its vaccine and mask requirements for employees while, last week, the Boston Herald reported the agency would rehire eight employees who lost their jobs for refusing the prior vaccination policy. The offer to rehire the former unvaccinated MBTA employees does not include back pay at this time.
“As a result of the vaccine policy being rescinded, (eight) previously non-compliant employees will be offered an opportunity to return to work, if vacancies exist, through a negotiated settlement agreement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 told the Boston Herald.
The eight former MBTA employees all worked as bus drivers for the state agency and were all members of the MBTA’s largest union, the Boston Carmen’s Local 589.
“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 Local 589 said in a statement provided to the Boston Herald.
The Local 589 had been one of several unions to challenge Baker’s executive order in court, but those challenges had been unsuccessful.
In October, Baker indicated his administration supported rehiring former employees who refused the vaccination requirement over medical or religious grounds, the Boston Globe reported. Local agencies like MBTA also began rescinding their vaccine policies.
“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 Boston Carmen’s Local 589 statement read.
It was not immediately clear if MBTA was offering to rehire other former employees it had fired over the vaccine mandate. The transit agency did not immediately respond to an NTD News request for comment.
As of September, MBTA Senior Director of Labor Relations Ahmad Barnes said the transit agency had a vaccination rate of about 94 percent for its 6,374 employees, the Boston Herald reported. Barnes said at the time that 80 employees of the MBTA workforce had outright refused the vaccines, setting off a three-strike process that would result in their termination.
Other Agencies Rehiring
The MBTA is not the only Massachusetts state agency that has begun rehiring former employees it fired over the vaccine mandate.
In October, the Boston Herald reported that the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) had begun offering jobs back to some of those it fired for being unvaccinated. That decision to rehire unvaccinated former employees pertained to those who had requested medical or religious exemptions.
“The administration has recently been able to accommodate a small number of positions who previously were not accommodated under the vaccine requirement,” Anisha Chakrabarti told the Boston Herald. “These employees have been offered back their positions, and the administration does not anticipate more letters going out for additional positions.”
Around the same time MassDOT offered to rehire some unvaccinated former employees, the Baker administration offered to rehire about 50 state employees scattered across different state agencies, including MassDOT.
