NY: Fired unvaccinated court workers must be rehired with interest, board rules

The New York Public Employment Relations Board last month ruled that court workers who were fired for refusing the COVID-19 injections must be rehired with backpay and interest.

The board ordered the Unified Court System to “cease and desist from unilaterally imposing procedures that employees must follow in order to be tested or vaccinated for COVID-19” and that any employee who lost accrued leave, compensation or employment” is to be paid backpay with interest “at the maximum legal rate”. Any records of disciplinary actions taken due to the employees’ refusal to comply are to be expunged.

In the ruling, Administrative Law Judge Mariam Manichaikul said the Unified Court System (UCS) was supposed to have negotiated the September 2021 vaccine mandate with the relevant labor unions.

The decision will affect about 25 court officers.

“You can’t violate an individual’s right to choose. We live in America, not Russia,” New York State Court Officers Association President Dennis Quirk told the New York Post. Though Quirk himself is pro-vaccination, his was one of 10 unions who challenged the vaccine mandate.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said the ruling does not apply to city court workers, who are not likely to be rehired. Adams is known to keep mandates in force even after legal rulings countermand statewide mandates, such as forced mask-wearing for children.

Just after he assumed office in January 2022, Adams said he would continue to force school children to wear masks even after a Long Island judge ruled against Governor Kathy Hochul’s statewide mask mandates.

“I believe it’s unfortunate that it was struck down, and I believe those jurisdictions that are using it as an opportunity to remove mandates are making a big mistake. We need to follow the science, not the fears that is [sic] actually coming with this virus,” he told 1010-WINS then. “We’re going to continue our mandates in schools.” 

New York State healthcare employees are still waiting to be rehired with backpay as ruled by a New York Supreme Court judge who in October struck down New York City’s vaccine mandate for healthcare workers which saw approximately 1,430 workers terminated in February 2022. According to the Richmond County Supreme Court ruling, all city healthcare employees are allowed back to work and entitled to backpay. Judge Ralph Porzio slammed the mandate as “arbitrary and capricious” and being about “compliance,” not “safety and public health”. 

But Governor Kathy Hochul indicated she does not intend to obey the ruling, because she claims the healthcare workers might infect patients with the COVID-19 virus.  

When asked in January about rehiring unvaccinated healthcare workers to help diminish a critical shortage of healthcare workers, Hochul explained she had no intention of doing so. 

“Our healthcare systems seem in desperate need of staff right now,” WHEC reporter Jennifer Lewke told Hochul. “We’ve had ambulances waiting five hours at our local emergency rooms to unload patients. The hospitals, the nursing homes say they’re waiting for [New York State Department of Health] guidance on whether they can hire any of those [unvaccinated] workers back. What’s the latest with that?”  

Hochul answered that those who have not taken the COVID-19 shots might transmit the virus to others. 

“It’s a problem, but I don’t think the answer is to have someone come in who is sick be exposed to someone who can give them the coronavirus, give them COVID-19. I don’t know that that’s the right answer, in fact I’m pretty sure it’s not,” replied the governor, smiling, before saying that those who are vaccinated “will not pass on the virus.”  

“So we’re exploring our options. But I think everyone who goes into a healthcare facility or nursing home should have the assurance and the family members should know that we have taken all steps to protect the public health, and that includes making sure those who come in contact with them at their time of most vulnerability, when they are sick or elderly, will not pass on the virus. We lost 34 New Yorkers yesterday. We have 4,000 active cases. This is not going away as much as we wish it would.” 

Lewke asked Hochul if the healthcare workers could be rehired with restrictions such as mask-wearing because “we’re at crisis level here in our hospitals, particularly our nursing homes.” 

Again, Hochul implied that patients might catch the virus from unvaccinated healthcare workers but not vaccinated ones. 

“I truly understand the challenge and the balance. And these are never easy decisions. But I cannot put people into harm’s way, because when you go into a healthcare facility, you expect that you’re not going to come out sicker than you went in. I think that’s something every New Yorker would expect.”