In 2021, New York’s largest police union filed a lawsuit against the city to overturn the COVID-19 vaccine mandate imposed on its members.
The Police Benevolent Association (PBA) 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.
On Friday, the 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.
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.
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. 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 PBA was invalid “to the extent it has been used to impose a new condition of employment” on the union.
From Judge Frank’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 says they will be “immediately appealing” the ruling, ABC 7 reported.
Breaking Digest previously reported that a court in New York ruled that the NYPD could not fire an officer who refused to take the experimental shot and had sued the city over its mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy.
Alexander Deletto, a 43-year-old police officer, had his request for a religious exemption granted after the city failed to provide any explanation for rejecting his request. The NYPD simply stated, “does not meet criteria”, in response to his request.
Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Arlene Bluth ruled that Officer Deletto should get to keep his job and noted in her ruling that the city gave him no explanation for rejecting his request.
“The hollow and generic phrase ‘does not meet criteria’ cannot be rational because not a single item particular to [Deletto] was discussed and not a single reason for the decision was given,” said Bluth in her ruling. “It is the duty of the agency to explain why it made the decision.”
