New York City is appealing a judge’s ruling to reinstate municipal employees fired for not getting the covid-19 vaccine.The city is appealing the latest ruling by a Staten Island judge finding a segment of the municipal work force should not require vaccination. Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio ruled Monday that the vaccination requirement for a group of 16 sanitation workers suing the city is arbitrary and capricious.
“Being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting covid-19,” the ruling notes. The judge ruled the “petitioners should not have been terminated” and that “If it was about public safety and health, no one would be exempt.” The ruling would reinstate fired unvaccinated employees and order backpay.
Just how much in backpay is still bein calculated, but the group of sanitation workers who were fired for not complying with the city vaccine mandate can now exhale. “After he announced his decision, there were claps, cries, tears,” said the attorney for the sanitation workers, Chad Laveglia. The court sided with the sanitation workers in part after performers and athletes were allowed vaccine exemptions.