A New York State Supreme Court judge on Tuesday ordered New York City to reinstate — with back pay — sanitation workers who were fired for failing to get vaccinated for Covid-19, calling the vaccine mandate ‘arbitrary and capricious.’”
Wow! Finally, we are seeing some sanity in the world and a little justice too. A New York Supreme Court Judge ruled on October 25 that the mandatory vaccine policies of New York City were harmful and beyond the scope of the New York City Board of Health that ordered the termination of employees who failed to comply with the Board’s mandatory vaccine orders.
At issue was the fact the New York City Board of Health and Mayor Eric Adams ordered all employees must be vaccinated and the order applied to public sector employees also. The Board of Health terminated NYC sanitation workers even though several employees had applied for exemptions for various reasons and were awaiting rulings on their exemptions. The city fired 1,761 workers but at one point sent them letters offering reinstatement if they would comply with the vaccine order.
Meanwhile, Mayor Adams subsequently granted exemptions for limited groups and individuals like athletes and performers, which in the opinion of New York Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio, made the vaccine orders arbitrary, capricious and unconstitutional. In his decision, Judge Porzio wrote, “The Mayor, in issuing Executive Order No. 62, made a different decision for similarly situated people based upon identical facts. There is nothing in the record to support the rationality of keeping a vaccination mandate for public employees while vacating the mandate for public sector employees or creating a cutout for certain professions like athletes, artists, and performers. This is clearly an arbitrary and capricious action because we are dealing with identical unvaccinated people being treated differently by the same administrative agency.
See Italian Sons and Daughters Inc. vs. Common Council of Buffalo 453 NYS2nd 964 [4th Department 1982]
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