SHOCK RULING: SUPREME COURT JUDGE STRIKES DOWN MANDATES ON NEW YORK CITY WORKERS!
A New York Supreme Court judge has ruled that mandates imposed on the City’s Sanitation workers were enacted illegally, finding the rule to be unconstitutional, arbitrary, and capricious.
The court ordered that the 16 sacked sanitation workers, plaintiffs in the case, be immediately reinstated with full ‘back-pay’ from the date of termination.
The 13 page ruling by Judge Porzio highlighted a number of inconsistencies with the mandate orders. The first order was issued by the Health Commissioner over city workers on 20 October 2021, with a subsequent order relating to private sector workers issued “months later”.
A further related order was issued by the Mayor in March 2022, which carved out exemptions for certain professions like athletes, artists and performers.
“This is clearly an arbitrary and capricious action because we are dealing with identical unvaccinated people being treated differently by the same administrative agency” the Judge said.
Most of the workers, he noted, had already recovered from the virus, giving them “natural immunity” prior to their termination.
There was therefore no reason, the Judge said, that these workers could not have continued to submit to regular testing, while continuing to fulfill their duties as public employees.
Porzio also pointed out that being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting the virus.
“We have learned through the course of the pandemic that the vaccine against covid-19 is not absolute. Breakthrough cases occur even for those who’ve been vaccinated and boosted.”
Clearly, he said, the mandates are not just about safety and public health.
“They are about compliance”.
“If it was about safety and public health, the Commissioner would have issued Citywide mandates for vaccination of ALL residents and workers, whether public or private.”
“If it was about safety and public health, unvaccinated workers would have been placed on leave the moment the order was issued.”
If it was about safety and public health, no worker would have been exempt.
“This is not a commentary on the efficacy of vaccination” the Judge said. “But about how we treat our First Responders. The ones who worked day to day through the height of the pandemic. They worked without protective gear. They were infected with Covid 19.”
“In a city with a nearly 80 percent vaccination rate, we shouldn’t be penalizing people who showed up to work at great risk to themselves and their families, while we were all locked down.”
“IT IS TIME FOR THE CITY TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT AND WHAT IS JUST”.
Words many sacked workers in Australia have waited a long time to hear from a judge.
It’s just a shame they had to hear it from an American judge, NOT an Australian one.
