Following months of warnings and tension between the groups, New York state court administrators informed almost 160 employees they will be terminated by mid-April for failing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, unless they get the shot immediately.
The Office of Court Administration on Monday vehemently warned employees in bold, underlined and capitalized text that “should you fail to comply with the vaccination mandate by close of business on April 4, 2022, your employment with the court system will be terminated,” explaining that unvaccinated workers have been “deemed unfit for service for your failure to meet the qualifications necessary for employment.”
“Should there be no change in their status of non-compliance with our vaccine mandate policy in the next 13 calendar days, they will be terminated,” state courts spokesperson Lucian Chalfen said Tuesday. “These employees have been given adequate time to either comply or submit an accepted medical or religious exemption.”
“Currently, they are barred from entering any court facility, and their absence is being charged to any accruals that they may have,” Chalfen additionally noted.
Union officials say they OCA’s actions violate New York labor law by making an end-run around collective bargaining agreements. Unions have gone to court to challenge the mandate, but they say there is little they can do in the two-week window provided by the courts.
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