Q&A
Council Member Ariola discusses COVID-19 vaccine mandate and its impact on city workers
7:40:02
·
3 min
Council Member Joann Ariola provides a detailed account of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for New York City municipal workers and its consequences. She discusses the legal challenges faced by the city and asks Mastro about his intended approach to these cases.
- Overview of the October 2021 vaccine mandate and its impact on various city workers
- Discussion of legal challenges and court rulings against the city
- Inquiry about Mastro's plans to handle ongoing appeals and reinstatement of affected workers
Joann Ariola
7:40:02
So I'm interested in what you would do with the current law department and how they have been deciding on cases to litigate, appeal, and deny.
7:40:14
In October of 2021, the De Blasio administration instituted a vaccine mandate for all New York City Municipal Workers.
7:40:23
A mandate that has now been deemed arbitrary and capricious by judges across the city, state, and country.
7:40:30
The workers affected had worked selflessly and tirelessly all through 2020 in the height of the pandemic Firefighters, EMS, workers, nurses, doctors with little to no PPE saved lives of thousands of New Yorkers, police officers who work triple shifts, teachers who had to figure out a way to educate through a computer screen.
7:40:48
At no point, did our sanitation workers fear coming to work, and that our garbage was picked up.
7:40:54
But in October of 2021, all of the applause became silent, and that silence was deafening.
7:41:02
The same city workers who faced the dangers of the COVID ahead of them with no protection had been tossed to the side if they would not agree to take a vaccine for valid reasons.
7:41:14
Religious beliefs were not being valued and the opinion of medical doctors who knew their patients and their bodies were being questioned.
7:41:22
Thousands of city workers were terminated for not complying with the COVID 19 vaccine, and a slew of lawsuits were rightfully brought against the city because of it.
7:41:33
Almost 3 years later, many of those lawsuits have been won.
7:41:38
And the city has appealed and kept city workers that judges have ordered back to work and given back pay away from the jobs that they love.
7:41:47
Eventually, the city is losing those appeals and spending 100 of 1000 of taxpayer dollars on what they know is going to lose.
7:41:57
And you spoke about You would take cases that you knew were prosecutorial, and that could be 1.
7:42:04
These cases are guaranteed losses, but yet they're all still appealed.
7:42:09
We now have homeless firefighters teachers who cannot get a job even outside of the city because of problem codes that have been placed on their records for not complying with the mandate.
7:42:21
There were also the workers who didn't have enough money.
7:42:24
To have representation in court or go on in Article 78.
7:42:28
In October of 20 October 24 2022, judge Ralph Porzo ruled on Garvey the city of New York that the COVID vaccine mandates public employees that private employees is arbitrary and capricious.
7:42:42
The city that appealed that ruling and 16 sanitation workers have still not been allowed to return to work because of this day.
7:42:50
In the meantime, the article 78 were being won by other city employees, and they were being reinstated.
7:42:57
So you see there is a discrepancy in how it's being held.
7:43:01
In the article 78 cases, For instance, Revichy versus the city of New York and Bonomi versus the city of New York, municipal workers were ordered back to work with back pay, other city workers who was similarly situated and won their cases.
7:43:19
And that we're waiting for a ruling are not allowed back to work.
7:43:23
Some municipal workers are requesting reinstatement for being asked to sign a waiver that other employees have just been reinstated and they are similarly situated and they do not have to sign a waiver.
7:43:36
So I'll begin my questioning with, will you drop these appeals in all of these mandated cases that have been won and allow these workers to return to their jobs with the back pay that the judge ordered, will you end the arbitrary, unlawful, and unfair practice that has been going on?
7:43:55
And will you drop the waiver for all city employees so that they may return to work?