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.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
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.
Critics of the vaccination policy call a double standard since New York judges have been allowed to bypass the mandate and work remotely while nonjudicial court employees aren’t allowed the same luxury. The latter group has reportedly had vacation days docked as they continue to face the possibility of being let go.
According to the OCA, there are still four state judges in violation of the vaccine mandate. While court administrators have no power to discipline judges under the state constitution, Chalfen said “they too are being held to account.”
“Any judge not in compliance subjects themselves to a referral to the Commission on Judicial Conduct for their determination,” he said. The commission can investigate, publicly reprimand or remove judges for ethics violations via often lengthy, secret proceedings.
Read more articles from Haute Lawyer, visit https://hauteliving.com/hautelawyer
Source: https://www.law360.com/articles/1476233
