City of Dallas offering extra paid time off for vaccinated employees

DALLAS - The city of Dallas announced that employees who are fully vaccinated get a full week of extra vacation.

Any city employee who gets vaccinated after Sept. 1 will also get some extra vacation.

Over at Dallas Fire-Rescue, all firefighters are now subject to regular testing.

The Dallas Firefighters Association says after the city’s announcement on Friday, some unvaccinated firefighters already called to book their vaccine shot. However, the union also says others disagree with the new policy.

Friday marked the start of daily mandatory COVID-19 testing at all Dallas fire stations. 

Dallas Firefighters Association President Jim McDade says 42 firefighters are currently out with COVID-19, five are hospitalized and two are in the ICU. Meanwhile, 80 are in quarantine. 

"We’ve had a significant increase over the past four to six weeks," he said.

Vaccinated or not, firefighters who respond to calls must take a rapid test every day. Training staff will be tested twice a week. Administrators are tested at least once a week. 

"And there are consequences if they don’t," McDade said.

Currently, McDade says 60% of the department is fully vaccinated. However, it could be more since Dallas Fire doesn’t require vaccination status to be disclosed. 

"We respect their opinions, and we believe all members would be treated equally," he said. "But we also believe this is a collective effort to stop the spread of this virus. 

If they do disclose their vaccination status, firefighters and every other city employee could get up to a week of extra vacation.

The full week applies to anyone fully vaccinated by Sept. 1

Proof of vaccination by Oct. 1 results in about half a week and before Nov. 1 results in an extra day off. 

Earlier this week, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order banning city and local governors from requiring vaccinations. 

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Dale Carpenter with SMU Law says the city of Dallas’ new policy is strictly based on benefits. 

"Dallas is offering city employees a carrot. It’s not brandishing a stick for vaccinations and that does not run afoul of the governor’s order," he explained. "You can’t coerce someone to get vaccinated, but you can incentivize vaccinations."

It’s on offer McDade hopes his firefighters will take up. 

"I hope any little thing can be done to encourage people to get vaccinated," he said.

The Fort Worth Fire Department is looking into daily testing, but nothing is on the horizon for vaccination incentives.

The city of Dallas also announced that unvaccinated civilian city employees, which are no uniform employees, will not be eligible for paid quarantine leave starting Nov. 2.