6 LAPD employees sued the city over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate, saying it creates a 'hostile work environment'

• LA is requiring city employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 5, with some exemptions.
• Six LAPD employees are suing the city, saying the mandate violates their rights.
• They said it created a "hostile work environment" in the police force.

Six Los Angeles Police Department employees are suing the city over its vaccine mandate, which requires most city employees to be vaccinated by October 5 or show weekly negative coronavirus tests.

The officers filed the lawsuit in the US District Court in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The lawsuit, seen by Insider, said that the mandate had created a "hostile work environment" in the police department, and that their privacy and civil rights were being violated.

They asked the court to exempt them from the requirement.

Currently, the city's vaccine mandate allows people to be exempt under certain religious and medical criteria.

But the lawsuit said that some of the six "could not assert a medical or religious exemption" to the vaccine requirement. It also said that some of them had already "experienced and recovered from COVID-19" and have antibodies against the virus as a result.

The lawsuit also said that some police leaders had been "obstructing the process of submitting requests for medical or religious exemptions," and "have engaged in hostile attacks on those seeking exemptions to vaccination for medical or religious reasons."

The lawsuit also claimed that people who are exempt from coronavirus vaccination are punished with "invasive testing" that violates their privacy rights.

Of the six employees suing, one is a detective, one is a lieutenant, two are officers, and the two others have unknown roles in the department, the Los Angeles Times reported.

A spokesman for the LAPD told the LA Times that the police department could not comment on pending litigation.