Judge refuses to block mandate calling for NYC workers to be vaccinated or be fired

A federal judge on Friday evening refused to block an imminent mandate for all New York City workers to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or get fired.

U.S. District Judge Diane Gujarati rejected a request for a temporary restraining order. The lawsuit argued that the mandate, which was going into effect Friday, is unconstitutionally discriminatory.

Some of the thousands of unvaccinated city workers have been fighting to avoid getting fired because they refused to comply with the mandate. The lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn federal court on Thursday, said the mandate violates the workers' "fundamental religious and constitutional rights" and amounts to "religious harassment."

Mayor Eric Adams rejected the workers' argument, saying their own actions are causing them to be dismissed.

"This is the law of the land. People must follow it, and hopefully people will just listen to what we’re saying, hear my voice, and just get vaccinated, protect their families," Adams said Friday before Gujarati's ruling at a hearing on the religious challengers’ suit.

The workers are required to show proof they have received at least two shots of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines or one shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Before Gujarati's ruling, Jonathan R. Nelson, a Manhattan-based attorney representing the workers, said, "Our clients have valid religious objections on the basis of religious exemption requests that the law permits them to make."

The workers "need to have their requests treated fairly and that isn’t happening," he said.

The plaintiffs included an NYPD officer, an FDNY rescue medic and employees of other agencies.

Suit cites religious grounds

The lawsuit was led by a group called New Yorkers for Religious Liberty.

Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio implemented the policy, saying it was needed to help bring under control a pandemic in a city that was once a global hot spot for COVID-19. Adams has continued the policy.

Many religious leaders, including Pope Francis, have encouraged people to get vaccinated. The workers have been on unpaid leave for months.

The lawsuit was filed the same day Gov. Kathy Hochul lifted a statewide mandate requiring people to wear a mask or show proof of vaccination to be in indoor public places including restaurants, stores, offices, gyms and theaters.

COVID-19 indicators released Friday continued a trend of general decline from record highs during the omicron surge, though levels remain higher than lows last spring.

Long Island registered 582 new confirmed daily cases in test results from Thursday, and a seven-day positivity average of 4.09%.

Across the state, 77 people died on Thursday of causes linked to the virus, with six fatalities in Nassau and four in Suffolk.

NYC drafting list

Adams said Friday that the city is drawing up a list, which could be in the thousands, of unvaccinated city workers who could be fired.

The most recent count disclosed by the Adams administration shows that at the end of January, 4,000 municipal workers face dismissal in two groups: new hires who have not shown proof of a complete vaccination series, and those who went on unpaid leave last fall for failing to prove vaccination and didn’t accept the city’s offer for continued health care coverage.

"We’re not firing them. People are quitting," Adams said Thursday. "The responsibility is clear. We said it: If you’re hired, if you get this job, you have to be vaccinated. If you are not following the rules, you are making that decision."

He said the city over the weekend would tally the total number that will be cited.

"It’s not about termination. It’s about vaccination. We want people to be vaccinated," he said at the opening of a health clinic in Bushwick, Brooklyn, on Friday.

There are about a dozen FDNY personnel represented by the Uniformed Firefighters Association labor union whose firings are imminent, according to union president Andrew Ansbro. That's in addition to about 500 in the FDNY whose requests for an exemption to the vaccine, for medical or religious purposes, are pending, he said, speaking at a news conference in Manhattan at union headquarters; thousands have already been rejected. About 11 have been approved, he said.

Adams, asked whether the fired workers would be replaced, said his administration was in the process of "right-sizing government," but that those who need to be replaced would be.

"We’re going to do an assessment to make sure taxpayers are getting their money’s worth."

He said that granting an exemption now to those who refused to get vaccinated would send the wrong message.

"My fear is, if I come in and change that rule, I’m saying to all other New Yorkers who understood we were at a very dangerous place, and they complied — so we get another variant that’s dangerous and we say to New Yorkers, ‘This is what you must do to help us keep the city open and save lives,’ people are not going to take us seriously. That can’t happen," Adams said.

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