this is NOTABLE and NOT bullshit
https://www.silive.com/coronavirus/2022/09/judge-rules-against-nyc-covid-vaccine-mandate-orders-city-to-reinstate-terminated-cops.html
Judge rules against NYC COVID vaccine mandate, orders city to reinstate terminated cops
Updated: Sep. 24, 2022, 7:56 a.m.|Published: Sep. 23, 2022, 5:03 p.m.
By
Paul Liotta | pliotta@siadvance.com
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A Manhattan judge ruled against the city’s coronavirus (COVID-19) mandate as it applies to members of the city’s large police union, and ordered members of that union who were terminated or put on leave to be reinstated.
State Supreme Court Judge Lyle Frank said the mandate is invalid as a condition of employment for members of the Police Benevolent Association (PBA), which brought the suit against the city.
Union President Pat Lynch has been a vocal critic against the mandate, and is party to the lawsuit brought in February.
“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.”
In addition to Frank’s ruling against the mandate, he ordered the city to reinstate any PBA members who had been fired or put on leave after not complying with the rule.
Staten Island Borough President Vito Fossella commended the PBA for initiating the effort.
“Our hope is that the city does not appeal this decision, and allows the police officers who were terminated to get reinstated as soon as possible, as well as all the other city employees who were wrongfully terminated,” said Fossella.
A spokesman for the Law Department said that the city filed a notice of appeal freezing the judge’s decision and pointed to previous similar cases that the city has won, including a Tuesday win in a suit brought by the Uniformed Firefighters Association.
“We are immediately appealing this ruling. It is at odds with every other court decision upholding the mandate as a condition of employment,” the spokesman said.
The city’s case qualifies the vaccine mandate as a condition of employment similar to the city employee residency requirement, but the judge ruled that the rule lacked statutory authority.
Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday that the city would end its vaccine mandates for private sector worker on Nov. 1, but kept them in place for municipal workers. He left the possibility of reconsidering the mandate on the table.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/ny-fdny-union-against-vaccine-mandate-20220825-5gxejdgg3bcxxnghr2ewy4lh2a-story.html
NYC firefighters’ union makes another plea to end vaccine mandate
By Nicholas Williams and Emma Seiwell
New York Daily News Aug 25, 2022 at 6:40 pm
With 70 unvaccinated city firefighters poised to lose their jobs, according to their union, the organization is calling for the COVID jab mandate to go away “just like the pandemic has.”
Many of the unvaccinated smoke eaters asked for exemptions about 10 months ago, according to Andrew Ansbro, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association, but they only recently got word that their appeals had been denied.
“We ask for the mandate to go away just like the pandemic has. It’s time to move on,” Ansbro said at a Thursday press conference.
The unvaccinated firefighters have received letters stating that they must get the shot within three days, or they’ll be placed on leave and scheduled for termination by the FDNY, according to a union official.
About a dozen of those affected have been on leave since November, while the majority have continued to work, Ansbro said.
The city has stopped enforcing the vaccine mandate for private employers, according to published reports. But the jab requirement, introduced by former Mayor Bill de Blasio, remains in effect for city government employees.
Mayor Adams previously balked at the union’s requests for the FDNY to be exempted.
His office did not answer an emailed question asking whether the city would end the mandate as per the union’s request.
“Our goal was always to vaccinate, not terminate,” Adams said in a statement. “We have not faced any staffing or operational challenges due to the city’s vaccine mandate and it remains in effect.”
The FDNY did not immediately answer a request for comment.
Twenty smoke eaters have been fired since the mandate was enacted in October 2021, with several hundred opting to resign or retire instead of getting vaccinated, according to Ansbro.
With 98% of the FDNY vaccinated, “there’s no reason why to continue down this path when we are at those numbers,” he said.
Vaccination efforts have brought the city’s fatality and hospitalization numbers way down, though the Big Apple’s latest infection rate came to about 10.5%, according to the city Health Department.
“We are currently two and a half years into this pandemic and by all counts, we are well on our way to putting it behind us.” Ansbro said.