Fired West Chester Police Lieutenant Is Reinstated

WEST CHESTER, PA —West Chester Police Lieutenant Chris Daly was reinstated Monday, nearly nine months after he was fired for not complying with the borough’s mandatory vaccine requirement for COVID-19.

Borough Manager Sean Metrick said Tuesday that the borough reached a settlement in which Daly was reinstated and returned to work Monday.

The borough council is expected to vote on the settlement at a meeting in September.

Metrick said the settlement will be available to the public after the meeting.

In the fall of 2021, Borough Council voted to approve a mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for all employees, with a deadline for compliance of Dec. 31, 2021.

Daly, who is not a union member, applied for an exemption to that policy, but was denied.

He was suspended in January.

Metrick said Daly’s employment ended March 31 as a result of noncompliance with the policy.

Daly, an 18-year veteran police officer, appealed his employment status to the borough Civil Service Commission.

During the appeal process before the commission, the borough officials reevaluated the exemption request and granted it pursuant to certain accommodations, Metrick said.