OPINION | This article contains the author's opinion.
In Democrat-run New York City, a number of teachers were fired for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
A judge ruled that at least ten teachers must be reinstated with back pay.
State Supreme Court Judge Ralph J. Porzio found that Democrats refused to allow for religious accommodations amid overly restrictive COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
As a result, the firings were unlawful, arbitrary and capricious.
“This Court sees no rational basis for not allowing unvaccinated classroom teachers in amongst an admitted population of primarily unvaccinated students,” Porzio wrote in his ruling.
“As such, the decision to summarily deny the classroom teachers amongst the Panel Petitioners based on an undue hardship, without any further evidence of individualized analysis, is arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable,” he wrote.
Porzio ruled, “As such, each classroom teacher amongst the Panel Petitioners is entitled to a religious exemption from the Vaccine Mandate.”
16 Sanitation Department workers were fired by the city and should get their jobs back because the vaccine mandate was illegal.
Sujata Gibson, who represented the teachers, said, “We’ve been fighting for this since August of 2021 for these 10 people specifically. And we won and we won big for them. They were reinstated with back pay, with no break in service, and attorneys’ fees. That’s huge.”
“The judge’s ruling yesterday, while not everything we wanted, is a precedent-setting victory, and a watershed moment in the teachers’ fight,” Gibson said.
“The Court’s decision not only grants relief to these ten teachers, but it also sets important precedent for all other teachers denied religious accommodation,” Gibson said.
“The court’s ruling in the class certification still leaves the door open to future relief for thousands of teachers negatively affected by the vaccine requirement. We intend to file a motion of reconsideration on a narrower basis,” she said.
Michael Kane, a teacher who lost his job, said it’s “bittersweet.”
“While it’s an important step in the right direction, justice for only 10 of us doesn’t even scratch the surface of the injustice suffered by NYC workers as a result of this illegal mandate.”