Court Orders NYC to Reinstate Unvaccinated Employees
NY state Supreme Court Judge Ralph Porzio on Monday ruled that New York City must rehire and give back pay to city employees who were fired for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID.
Facts
- NY state Supreme Court Judge Ralph Porzio on Monday ruled that New York City must rehire and give back pay to city employees who were fired for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID.
- The ruling concluded that the vaccine mandate was arbitrary and capricious, adding that, "being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting COVID-19."
- The order stemmed from a lawsuit filed by 16 employees of the Sanitation Dept. who were fired in February, with Porzio also taking aim at former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vaccine mandate for city workers which was then expanded to include private employers.
- Porzio's "arbitrary and capricious" judgment was in respect to Mayor Eric Adams's "Executive Order No. 62, which provided blanket exemptions from the private employers’ vaccine mandate for athletes, performers, and other artists,” while keeping the mandate for city workers.
- The order also said the mandate — which affected over 1,750 city workers, including 36 members of the NYPD and more than 950 Dept. of Education employees — violated "the separation of powers doctrine” enshrined in the state constitution.
- In response to the order, the New York Law Dept. said, “We have already filed an appeal. In the meantime, the mandate remains in place as this ruling pertains solely to the individual petitioners in this case."
Sources: American Military, Daily Wire, Independent, Daily Signal, and New York Post.
Narratives
- Republican narrative, as provided by Fox News. Firing first responders did nothing to make NYC safer, it simply put hardworking New Yorkers out of a job and shrank the city's police, fire, and healthcare forces. Furthermore, if Adams truly believed in the science of the mandate, he wouldn't have lifted it for professional athletes and performers while excluding city workers.
- Democratic narrative, as provided by Mediaite. The vaccine requirement was firmly grounded in both health and law, which is why several other courts have previously upheld the mandate and the city will file an appeal. The mandate isn't an arbitrarily enforced compliance, it's a strategically placed law to protect both workers and the public.
