Hermosa Beach did not violate a police officer’s statutory administrative appeal rights when it fired him for failing to meet its COVID-19 vaccination requirement, a California appeals court ruled Oct. 15.
The decision in Cruz v. City of Hermosa Beach is the first published appellate ruling to hold that the Public Safety Officers Procedural Bill of Rights Act (POBRA) does not cover terminations for failing to meet a vaccination requirement. Because the court published that portion of its opinion, other California courts can rely on it in similar cases.
Officer Jonathan Cruz had worked for the Hermosa Beach Police Department since 2009. The Hermosa Beach City Council adopted a vaccine mandate for all city employees in September 2021 on a 3-2 vote, with a Nov. 12, 2021, compliance deadline. The policy allowed religious and medical exemptions.
Cruz requested a religious exemption on Oct. 1, 2021. The city denied it on Jan. 5, 2022, finding his request was not based on a sincerely held religious belief. As a fallback, the city also found that accommodating him would cause undue hardship. When Cruz did not provide proof of vaccination by the deadline, the city issued a Notice of Forfeiture of Employment on Feb. 22, 2022, and terminated him March 9, 2022.
The city called the separation non-disciplinary. It denied Cruz a post-termination hearing before the Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission.
Cruz sued, arguing any firing amounts to "punitive action" under POBRA. Justice Dorothy C. Kim, writing for Division Five of the Second Appellate District, disagreed. The court found the vaccine policy "specifically affected the qualifications for employment, which are not regulated by POBRA," the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported. The city did not fire Cruz for misconduct or poor performance, the court held. It fired him for not meeting a minimum job qualification.
Cruz told The Hermosa Review he considers the distinction unfair. "If he kicked an animal and killed it, or if he used the wrong pen and paper, or if he said a bad word to a person in the field, and any of those things lead to a termination, the officer could appeal all those things," he said. "But if the officer opposes a vaccine mandate, that's the one thing out of all of the things in the world that now you cannot appeal against."
In an unpublished portion of the opinion, the court also rejected Cruz's claims that the city retaliated against him for filing complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the state's former Department of Fair Employment and Housing. The court found the city began the separation process before it learned of those complaints, The Hermosa Review reported.
Cruz was not the only officer affected. The Hermosa Beach Police Officers Association said in a February 2022 Facebook post that Detective Wayne Lewis, a 21-year veteran, and Cruz had been placed on leave after the city denied their religious exemptions. Four other officers in the 39-member department faced separation for the same reason, The Hermosa Review reported.
Cruz told The Hermosa Review he has not decided whether to petition the California Supreme Court for review. He estimated the cost at around $25,000. He is also pursuing a separate federal appeal after a judge dismissed his religious discrimination lawsuit in June 2025.
Hermosa Beach dropped its vaccine requirement in June 2025, according to Cruz, well after neighboring cities and Los Angeles County had ended theirs. Redondo Beach attorney Corey W. Glave represented Cruz in the state case. Jennifer M. Misetich and Adam P. Smith of Buchalter LLP represented the city.
