The Manhattan Supreme Court has ruled that vaccine mandates are “invalid.”
Justice Lyle Frank ruled in favor of police officers who were fired for refusing to get COVID-19 vaccinations.
The judge ordered that those officers must be reinstated.
In 2021, New York City’s largest police union filed a suit in state court in Staten Island against former Mayor Bill de Blasio to halt his administration’s vaccination mandate for city employees.
Police Benevolent Association (PBA) of the City of New York Police Department argued that the mandate was “far broader and more coercive” than similar measures taken by the federal government and other states and municipalities at a time when Covid infection rates are declining, Bloomberg reported.
“The city has provided no explanation, much less a rational one, for the need to violate autonomy and privacy of NYPD officers in such a severe manner, on the threat of termination,” the union said.
On Friday, PBA shared an important development in their ongoing legal battle with the federal government over the Covid-19 vaccine mandate.
“I am writing with a critical update on our lawsuit against the Department’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” said Patrick Lynch, President of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York.
“The judge in the case has ruled that the vaccine mandate is INVALID as applied to PBA members, and has ordered that all members who were terminated and/or put on leave without pay as a result of non-compliance be reinstated,” Lynch added.
“We are currently analyzing the ruling and are awaiting information from the City regarding how it intends to comply with the judge’s orders.
“However, this decision confirms what we have said from the start: the vaccine mandate was an improper infringement on our members’ right to make personal medical decisions in consultation with their own health care professionals,” Lynch said.
“We will continue to fight to protect those rights.”
Justice Lyle Frank of the Manhattan Supreme Court ruled that the city’s vaccination requirement for the Police Benevolent Association was invalid “to the extent it has been used to impose a new condition of employment” on the union.
Below is the text of the judge’s order:
ORDERED that the vaccine mandate is invalid to the extent it has been used to impose a new condition of employment to current PBA members; and it is further
ORDERED that the mandate is invalid to the extent that it seeks an enforcement in any other manner than proscribed by law, namely monetary sanctions; and it is further
ORDERED that members of the PBA that were caused to be wrongfully terminated and/or put on leave without pay as a result of non-compliance with the unlawful new condition of employment discussed above are directed to be reinstated to the status they were as of the date of the wrongful action.
ORDERED that the vaccine mandate is invalid to the external it has been used to impose a new condition of employment to current PBA members; and it is further
ORDERED that the mandate is invalid to the extent that it seeks an enforcement in any other manner than proscribed by law, namely monetary sanctions; and it is further
ORDERED that members of the PBA that were caused to be wrongfully terminated and/or put on leave without pay as a result of non-compliance with the unlawful new condition of employment discussed above are directed to be reinstated to the status they were as of the date of the wrongful action.
New York City officials say they will be “immediately appealing” the ruling, ABC 7 reported.
