Photographer: Win McNamee / Getty Images
Photographer: Win McNamee / Getty Images
An order from South Carolina to return civil servants to their positions will disproportionately harm women, people with disabilities, caregivers and blacks who are already suffering the impact of the pandemic, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit challenging the plan.
Governor Henry McMaster exceeded his authority with the Executive order, which requires state agencies to “expedite immediately” the return of non-essential public employees to personal work, the ACLU said in a complaint filed on Monday at the Columbia state court. The Republican governor’s order also eliminates South Carolina’s mask mandate for state buildings, putting workers’ health at even greater risk, according to the lawsuit.
The March 5 order instructed agencies to start returning most workers in mid-March and to put them all back in early April “regardless of their health or ability to find adequate care coverage” for children, according to the complaint.
“The governor’s order forces me to choose between protecting my family’s safety and a paycheck,” said Deborah Mihal, an official at the state College of Charleston and a principal plaintiff in the lawsuit, in a statement to the ACLU on Tuesday. . “Since the beginning of this global pandemic, more than a year ago, my colleagues and I have worked remotely safely and effectively. There is no urgent need to come back in person. “
McMaster’s press office did not immediately respond to a message requesting comments on the case. The executive order said the move was justified because the spread of new cases and hospitalizations was declining.
The ACLU says that the quick return is not justified. On signature day, South Carolina’s seven-day moving average for new cases was 1,224 per day, according to the lawsuit. As of April 1, a third of South Carolina residents had received at least one dose of the vaccine and nearly a fifth was fully vaccinated, said the ACLU.