NY Supreme Court orders NYC to rehire and pay back wages to fired unvaccinated employees

New York’s State supreme court has ordered New York City to not only rehire, but also pay back wages, to all government employees who lost their jobs for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccination.

The city has already filed an appeal through a spokesman who said “the city strongly disagrees with this ruling as the mandate is firmly grounded in law and is critical to New Yorkers’ public health.”

The mandate in discussion was handed down by David Chokshi, the city’s health commissioner, who made the order in October of 2021. Chokshi then ordered even private-sector employees to get the vaccine as well.

Consequently, Mayor Eric Adams signed a supplementary executive order which added to the mandate, and made outrageous vaccination exemptions for athletes, musicians and other performers.

The New York state supreme court determined Chokshi and Adams’s orders were “arbitrary and capricious” and found Chokshi violated the New York State constitution.

“The Health Commissioner cannot create a new condition of employment for city employees, . . . cannot prohibit an employee from reporting to work . . . [and] cannot terminate employees. The Mayor cannot exempt certain employees from these orders,” reads the opinion, which was authored by Judge Ralph J. Porzio. Porzio noted that vaccination against Covid-19 does not prevent transmission of the disease, but noted that the decision “is not a commentary on the efficacy of vaccination.”

“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,” concluded Porzio.