New York county court reinstates NYC employees fired for being unvaccinated, rules they're entitled to back pay



A New York court on Monday ordered the reinstatement of New York City employees fired for being unvaccinated and also ruled they are entitled to back pay.

Following the court's ruling, an appeal was filed Tuesday with state's appellate division.

What are the details?

The court granted a petition against Democrat New York City Mayor Eric Adams and other city officials and departments, saying the citywide mandate requiring public employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of their employment — while later exempting athletes and performers — is "arbitrary and capricious."

The mayor in March said the exemption was needed because New York City — heavily reliant on tourism — "has to function," the New York Post reported.

“Being healthy is not just about being physically healthy, but being economically healthy,” Adams also said, according to the Post.

“We’re leading the entire country, for the most part, in unemployment,” he added, according to the paper. “We’re seeing unbelievable vacancies in our business district.”

The city's vaccine mandate — which resulted in more than 1,400 employees getting fired — still applies to municipal and other private-sector workers, and Adams said he wasn't planning on rehiring them, the Post added.

The decision made many folks furious, but now Adams may be forced to bring them back on the job.

What else does the court's judgment say?

The court said employees terminated for remaining unvaccinated are "reinstated to their full employment status," effective Oct. 25 at 6 a.m. It added that they're "entitled to back pay in salary from the date of termination" and can submit a "proposed judgment" for back pay on or before Nov. 10.

The court added in its conclusion that the city's health commissioner "cannot create a new condition of employment for city employees" and "cannot prohibit an employee from reporting to work" and "cannot terminate employees."

"The vaccination mandate for city employees was not just about safety and public health; it was about compliance," the decision read. "If it was about safety and public health, unvaccinated workers would have been placed on leave the moment the order was issued. If it was about safety and public health, the health commissioner would have issued city-wide mandates for vaccination for all residents. In a city with a nearly 80% vaccination rate, we shouldn't be penalizing the people who showed up to work, at great risk to themselves and their families, while we were locked down."

It added, "If it was about safety and public health, no one would be exempt. It is time for the city of New York to do what is right and what is just."

'You guys are f***ed up!' Former NYC firefighter who says his 20-year career ended after his vaccine religious exemption was denied absolutely shreds city council



A former New York City firefighter captain — who said his 20-year career ended after his religious exemption from the city's vaccine mandate was denied — absolutely shredded city council last Friday in a blistering address.

What did he say?

“I went from being essential to being disposable from the mandates," Brendan Fogarty began as he sat calmly — at first — in front of a microphone.

“My religious exemption was denied,” he added, noting that he then "received those threats of termination" since the mandate requires city employees to be vaccinated in order to keep their jobs.

With that, Fogarty said he retired — but clearly not willingly, as he told the council that he'd "love to go back to my job."

At another point in his address, he began to get angry.

“I gave my best years to this city! Twenty years from [age] 21 to 41, and then they take it away at the peak of my earning career! I made it to captain; I went through that process! You should be ashamed of yourselves!” Fogarty told the council.

He added, "I was allowed to work in this city, but I wasn't allowed to eat in a restaurant in this city! I was allowed to work through the pandemic, but I wasn’t allowed to eat in a restaurant! I could wear the uniform, go to a burning building, but not eat here! What’s wrong with you people?”

With that, he got up and concluded his address with a blistering kiss-off: "Trust the science! You guys are f***ed up!”

Lawsuit

Fox News' Tucker Carlson featured video of Fogarty's speech on his Thursday program and interviewed his attorney, Barry Black, as Fogarty is suing the city.

"It's indefensible, and it's entirely unconstitutional," Black told Carlson of the city's vaccine mandate.

Black added that his firm is representing firefighters, police officers, sanitation workers, teachers, parks department workers, and even private-sector employees, "all of whom are subject to a New York City vaccine mandate, so if you are terminated because you object on religious grounds, you are out of luck."

What's more, the attorney pointed out that the city has "discretionarily" granted exemptions to "artists, athletes, entertainers — and yes, that includes adult entertainers. So you have strippers scot-free exempt of vaccine mandates, but priests, pastors, and rabbis, they have to get vaccinated. It's the First Amendment turned upside-down on its head."

Here's the interview:

Tucker Carlson Tonight 9/15/22 Full show September 15, 2022 Fox News Breaking News (no ads)youtu.be

Anything else?

Mayor Eric Adams exempted athletes and performers from the vaccine mandate in March following intense pressure — but most notably over NBA star Kyrie Irving being barred from playing in Brooklyn Nets home games yet being allowed to enter the Nets' arena as a spectator and sit courtside.

“Being healthy is not just about being physically healthy, but being economically healthy,” Adams said, the New York Post reported at the time. Adams also said the exemption was needed because New York City — heavily reliant on the tourism — "has to function," the paper added.

The city's vaccine mandate resulted in more than 1,400 employees getting fired, and Adams said at the time he wasn't planning on rehiring them, the Post reported.

Mayor Eric Adams exempts NYC athletes from vaccine mandate after Kyrie Irving controversy reaches critical mass — but other city workers aren't so lucky



New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced an exemption on Thursday for city-based athletes and performers from NYC's vaccine mandate following plenty of pressure, most notably the bad optics of NBA star Kyrie Irving being barred from playing in Brooklyn Nets' home games — yet being allowed to enter the Nets' arena as a spectator and sit courtside.

Other city workers are still required to abide by the mandate, however, and leaders of their unions aren't happy, the New York Post reported.

What are the details?

The paper said the exemption for athletes and performers is effective immediately.

“Being healthy is not just about being physically healthy, but being economically healthy,” Adams said at Citi Field, according to the Post. The stadium is the home of major league baseball's New York Mets.

The mayor, prior to his announcement, said he's "going to make some tough choices. People are not going to agree with some of them. I must move this city forward. Generals lead from the front. I was not elected to be fearful, but to be fearless," the paper added.

The Post said New York City's vaccine mandate — which resulted in more than 1,400 employees getting fired — still applies to municipal and private-sector workers. Adams added that he's not planning to rehire them, the paper reported.

The mayor said the exemption was needed because New York City — heavily reliant on the tourism — "has to function," the Post noted.

“We’re leading the entire country, for the most part, in unemployment,” he added, according to the paper. “We’re seeing unbelievable vacancies in our business district.”

The Post reported that Adams also said the provision exempting out-of-town athletes and performers from the mandate wasn't fair to the city's own athletes and performers.

“This is about putting New York City-based based performers on a level playing field,” he said, according to the paper. “Hometown players had an unfair disadvantage.”

The Kyrie Irving controversy

Earlier this month, Irving strutted into Barclays Center — the Nets' home arena — in his street clothes and watched his teammates play from a courtside seat. He wasn't injured, but he was unvaccinated — and therefore barred from playing in New York City. Yet, like other fans, he could enter the arena and sit a few feet from players — as if the COVID virus can't travel that far. Visiting unvaccinated players were allowed to take part in the contest, too.

Irving's teammate Kevin Durant demanded that Adams make things right.

"It's ridiculous," Durant said after the game. "I don't understand it at all. There's a few people in our arena that's unvaxxed, right? They lifted all of that in our arena, right? So I don't get it ... I don't get it. It just feels like at this point now, somebody's trying to make a statement or a point to flex their authority. But everybody out here is looking for attention, and that's what I feel like the mayor wants right now, is some attention. But he'll figure it out soon. He better."

Durant added, "But it just didn't make any sense. There's unvaxxed people in this building already. We got a guy who can come in the building, I guess, are they fearing our safety? I don't get it. We're all confused. Pretty much everybody in the world is confused at this point. Early on in the season people didn't understand what was going on, but now it just looks stupid. So hopefully, Eric, you got to figure this out."

NYC Mayor Eric Adams lifts COVID-19 vaccine rules for pro athletes, performersyoutu.be

Other city workers still under mandate: 'Like second-class citizens'

Leaders of several municipal unions on Thursday ripped Adams for enacting a double standard that favored famous people, the Post reported.

Patrick Lynch, president of the 24,000-member Police Benevolent Association, said that "if the mandate isn’t necessary for famous people, then it’s not necessary for the cops who are protecting our city in the middle of a crime crisis,” the paper reported.

“While celebrities were in lockdown, New York City police officers were on the street throughout the pandemic, working without adequate PPE and in many cases contracting and recovering from Covid themselves," Lynch added, according to the Post. "They don’t deserve to be treated like second-class citizens now.”

Paul DiGiacomo, head of the NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Union, said Adams’ decision “doesn’t make sense," the Post noted.

“The objective, scientific findings do not support giving athletes one option and New York City detectives another option,” DiGiacomo added, according to the paper.

Harry Nespoli — president of the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association and chair of the umbrella Municipal Labor Committee — said "there can’t be one system for the elite and another for the essential workers of our city,” the Post reported.

Nespoli also noted that city workers fired for refusing vaccine shots should be rehired, the paper said: “When New York City shut down, many workers were mandated to come in every day without vaccines to keep the city running. These workers often got sick, and when they got better, came right back to work.”

Thousands of NYC teachers, firefighters, and cops to lose jobs today because of vaccine mandate



Thousands of municipal workers in New York City could lose their jobs Friday as Mayor Eric Adams will enforce the COVID-19 vaccine mandate deadline set by his predecessor, Bill de Blasio.

The city has said about 3,000 of the New York's 370,000 or so teachers, firefighters, cops, and other workers are not currently in compliance with the controversial mandate and will be terminated at end of the day if they do not get the jab.

Groups representing city workers have protested for their jobs and filed legal challenges against the mandate, but Adams has been unmoved by their appeals.

“We have to be very clear — people must be vaccinated if they are New York City employees,” the mayor said at a news conference Thursday. “Everyone understood that.”

“We are not firing them,” he insisted. “People are quitting. The responsibility is clear.”

“I want them to stay, I want them to be employees of the city, but they have to follow the rules,” he added.

City officials have touted the vaccine mandate as a success, noting that 95% of the municipal workforce has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, up from 84% when the madate was first announced in October.

Unions representing various parts of the city's workforce formed a coalition and sued to block the mass firings. But a judge on Thursday ruled in favor of the city, which has argued that losing nearly 3,000 workers won't affect city services because these workers have been on unpaid leave since November.

But some of those workers take offense to what they're hearing from the city.

"The city wants to deny that there's irreparable harm. But there's a lot of harm," said a NYC school guidance counselor who spoke with TheBlaze. She asked to remain anonymous because she's involved in a lawsuit against the vaccine mandate, fighting to keep her job.

"Kids are seeing their parents not going to work. People defaulting on their mortgages. Anxiety, stress, there's emotional damage the city isn't acknowledging," she told TheBlaze.

Though the city is offering employees the opportunity to apply for a religious or medical exemption, some workers say they've been unable to have their exemption requests approved.

John De Luca, 47, is a teacher in the Bronx. He co-founded a group called Educators for Freedom, which is raising money to protect education workers from being fired for their religious convictions. He told TheBlaze that his own personal application for a religious exemption from the vaccine mandate was denied on the grounds that it would cause an "undue hardship."

"I think people are fed up with all this stuff. This is just crazy," De Luca said. "Where are our rights? Where did they go? Don't we live in the United States of America?"

De Luca provided TheBlaze with a copy of an arbitration agreement reached between the Board of Education of the City School District of New York and the United Federation of Teachers, the city's largest teachers' union. The agreement provides that educators seeking a religious exemption to the mandatory vaccination policy must provide written documentation from clergy explaining why the exemption is needed.

"Requests shall be denied where the leader of the religious organization has spoken publicly in favor of the vaccine, where the documentation is readily available ... or where the objection is personal, political, or philosophical in nature," the agreement states. "Exemption requests shall be considered for recognized and established religious organizations (e.g. Christian Scientists)."

De Luca criticized the city for being slow to approve religious exemption requests.

"Let us practice our religious beliefs. Please let us come back to work and let us practice our religious beliefs. Do not fire us. Do not terminate us," he said. "We are human beings with flesh and blood and we deserve to have our jobs. We should not be fired over our beliefs in God."

City officials have said they won't know exactly how many workers will be fired until after Friday's deadline passes. City officials have suggested that the actual number of terminated employees may be lower than 3,000, as some may decide to get vaccinated before Friday's deadline.

But De Luca pointed out that would mean some may violate their religious consciences to feed their families.

"People haven't been paid in four months and they are having difficulty affording lawyers," he said.

To De Luca and the others, it seems like New York is telling them their rights aren't respected and their services aren't wanted in their city.

"Isn't that like telling you to get out of here?" he asked. "That's not American."

De Blasio takes 'preemptive strike' against COVID-19 Omicron with first-in-the-nation vaccine mandate on private businesses



New York City will impose a first-in-the-nation vaccine mandate on private companies, in what Mayor Bill de Blasio called a "preemptive strike" against the Omicron variant and a possible winter surge of COVID-19.

The mayor went on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" Monday morning to announce the mandate, which he said will take effect in three weeks, on Dec. 27.

“We in New York City have decided to use a preemptive strike to really do something bold to stop the further growth of COVID and the dangers it’s causing to all of us,” de Blasio said. “All private-sector employers in New York City will be covered by this vaccine mandate as of Dec. 27.”

New York City is set to require a vaccine mandate for all private sector workers, @nycmayor announces on Morning Joepic.twitter.com/ZTQQsYe2mS
— Morning Joe (@Morning Joe) 1638796802

New York City already requires vaccinations for hospital and nursing home workers, as well as city employees including teachers, police officers, and firefighters. Last week, the mayor's office also announced these mandates would be extended to private and religious schools.

This new mandate covering private businesses comes at the same time federal courts have temporarily blocked President Joe Biden's federal vaccine mandate on companies with more than 100 employees from taking effect.

At a press conference Monday morning, New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave Chokshi said that the city will issue the new vaccination rules on Dec. 15, but he did not give details on how they will be enforced.

“Vaccines work, and vaccine mandates work, particularly when joined with efforts to build vaccine confidence, provide incentives, and improve access, as we have in New York City,” Chokshi said. “We’ve seen this with our health care workers, school staff and public employees. Now it’s time for the private sector to step up and follow suit.”

New York City Councilman Mark D. Levine, the chairman of the council's health committee, said the mandate will include a weekly testing option, according to WLNY-TV.

The councilman added on social media that vaccination passport requirements at indoor public establishments like restaurants and theaters will be extended to include children ages 5 to 11 on Dec. 14 and will require a second vaccine shot as of Dec. 27.

BREAKING: NYC is strengthening vax screening at indoor public establishments like restaurants & theaters.\n* Will include 5-11 yr olds (as of 12/14)\n* Will require a 2nd shot, not just single shot (as of 12/27)\n\nThese are much needed measures in the face of our delta/omicron wave.
— Mark D. Levine (@Mark D. Levine) 1638797170

Also, beginning on Dec. 14, children ages 5 to 11 will need to have at least one vaccine dose to participate in "high risk" extracurricular activities, including football and volleyball.

But all of these COVID-19 policies are subject to review once Mayor-elect Eric Adams takes over on Jan. 1. In a statement to WLNY-TV, the mayor-elect said he will "evaluate" the new mandate once he takes office.

“The Mayor-elect will evaluate this mandate and other COVID strategies when he is in office and make determinations based on science, efficacy and the advice of health professionals,” a spokesperson said.

NYC Mayor de Blasio slaps back at Boston Mayor Janey for daring to call his new vaccine mandates racist: 'Absolutely inappropriate'



After New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio declared this week that all Gothamites will have to show proof of vaccination in order to "participate in our society fully," including having the option of going to restaurants, gyms, and theaters, critics made no bones about their view the mayor was overstepping.

One of the loudest, most significant criticisms of vaccine mandates came not from de Blasio's right, but from a fellow left-winger, who also happens to be the mayor of a major U.S. city.

Shortly after Hizzoner issued his vaccine decree, Acting Boston Mayor Kim Janey answered questions about whether Bean Town should implement similar orders by calling vaccine mandates racist, which did not sit well with de Blasio.

What did she say?

"We know that those types of things are difficult to enforce when it comes to vaccine," Janey told WCVB-TV on Tuesday.

"There's a long history in this country of people needing to show their papers — whether we talking about this from the standpoint of, you know, as a way to, after — during slavery, post-slavery, as recent as, you know, what the immigrant population has to go through here," she continued, adding, "Here, we want to make sure that we are not doing anything that would further create a barrier for residents of Boston or disproportionately impact BIPOC communities."

In a clarifying statement issued after her comments made headlines, Janey said that "we must consider our shared history as we work to ensure an equitable public health and economic recovery."

How did de Blasio react?

Mayor de Blasio used his daily press briefing to respond to Janey's criticism and call her remarks "absolutely inappropriate," the New York Post reported.

"I am hoping and praying she hasn't heard the details, and has been improperly briefed because those statements are absolutely inappropriate," the mayor said. "This is a way to save lives, this is a way to stop the delta variant, which is threatening the entire life of this country."

"I'm assuming the interim mayor has not heard the whole story, because I can't believe she would say it's Ok to leave so many people unvaccinated and in danger," de Blasio added.

What's going on with vaccinations and minorities in NYC?

Yahoo Finance reporter Anjalee Khemlani wrote Wednesday that some analysts believe minorities could become "collateral damage" in New York City's vaccine policy as the Delta variant surges:

New York City data shows the city's vaccine uptake is lowest among certain demographics, particularly Black residents that account for the lowest, with only 31% reported as fully vaccinated. Latinos fare a bit better at 42%, while White residents are 46% fully vaccinated. By comparison, more than 67% of Native Americans and 71% of Asians or Pacific Islanders are fully vaccinated.

Dr. Oni Blackstock, executive director of Health Justice, said a one-size-fits-all approach isn't appropriate while the country is still trying to battle inequities to vaccine access and hesitancy.

"It's a challenging situation. While vaccine passports have the potential to decrease the spread of the virus and may be an incentive for some to get vaccinated, their implementation also has the potential to worsen existing inequities," Blackstock told Yahoo Finance.

Khemlani noted that vaccine passports could actually "penalize those who are hesitant or have concerns, especially as seen in Black and Latinx communities."