SAN DIEGO — Six employees and a student from San Diego, Grossmont Cuyamaca, and South Orange County Community College Districts are challenging vaccine, mask, and testing mandates that have been put in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19 on campuses.
“When I got hired by the district, it was not a condition of my employment to take a force vaccine of any kind,” said Jess Perez, an employee in South Orange Community College District. “This has caused me extreme financial debt.”
The lawsuit is hoping to overturn the district's requirement to require students and staff to get vaccinated against COVID-19, in order to attend on-campus services.
Those who are unvaccinated are required to test once or twice a week.
Here is the official lawsuit.
Then there is Mary-Kate Planeta who attends a campus in the San Diego Community College District.
She started two years ago at the same time the pandemic hit and blames COVID-19 mandates for putting her in extreme debt and delaying her education.
“I was unable to complete my transfer degree. I had tried to transfer to the University of San Diego and now this is going to be postponed for a year now,” said Planeta.
Although she was temporarily exempt from the vaccine requirement, for religious purposes, she alleges she was dropped from in-person classes.
Forcing her to find classes elsewhere that cost her hundreds of dollars at other nearby campuses.
“I ended up taking classes that didn’t qualify for transfer, so as you can see I'm in a very stressful situation,” said Planeta.
CBS 8 reached out to the Grossmont Cuyamaca District, but they didn't want to talk to us about a pending lawsuit.
In a written statement the San Diego Community College District said they continue to follow the requirements and guidelines issued by federal, state, and local public health agencies, to ensure a safe environment for all students and employees.
Adding that they offer free testing on campus to unvaccinated students and staff everyday, to prevent an outbreak.
“It's just not right, people have lost their jobs. Being required to test two times a week and if I failed to test for any reason then my district is reserving their so-called right to fire me,” said Perez.
This lawsuit is not just filed against San Diego Community Colleges, the lawsuit joins hundreds of other students, faculty, and even government employees that have filed a lawsuit over the past two years around the country.
The lawsuit also asks for a jury trial, and for the judge to take immediate action.
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