Judge backs city schools on vax mandate

A Manhattan judge Wednesday lifted a temporary restraining order on the city’s mandate that public school staffers get vaccinated, clearing the way for the requirement to take effect on Monday.

In a ruling handed down Wednesday afternoon, Manhattan Supreme Court judge Laurence Love said the city had satisfied his main concern by providing a route for staffers to apply for exemptions to the requirement and that the legality of vaccine mandates is well-established in case law.

The ruling comes in response to a lawsuit from the city’s labor unions challenging the legality of the mandate.

Love’s decision is not a final determination on the legality of the mandate, but it signals that he is unlikely to strike down the city’s order.

The Municipal Labor Committee, the coalition of public-sector unions that filed the lawsuit, “will be unable to establish a likelihood of ultimate success on the merits” of their case, Love wrote.

A lawyer for the labor unions argued in the hearing that threatening to place staffers who refuse a vaccine on a year of unpaid leave amounts to a violation of due process rights and “bodily integrity.”

Love was unconvinced by that argument, writing “state and federal courts have consistently held that a mandatory vaccine requirement does not violate substantive due process rights and properly fall within the State’s police power.”

Education spokeswoman Danielle Filson said “this is a big win for New York City children and Department of Education employees. Their health and safety is at the very core of this vaccine mandate, and we are pleased the court recognized the City’s legal authority to implement the Health Commissioner’s Order beginning Sept. 27.”

Municipal Labor Committee Chair Harry Nespoli said the suit had led to progress by “prompting the city to “admit that there can be exceptions to the vaccine mandate.”