Posted by Jamie Hamalainen.
The Coronavirus has brought about many worldwide issues since 2019, causing detrimental effects on the economy and many other aspects that affect people’s everyday lives. In order to combat these issues, there has been a great amount of work done to efficiently produce a vaccine and hopefully control the outbreak and lower the number of cases and hospitalizations. However, because of how contagious COVID-19 is and how the severity of the symptoms varies from person to person, companies began to require proof of vaccination to enter certain places or partake in events. Thus, businesses also started to require employees to become vaccinated and if they refused, the penalty would sometimes be job loss. There are two sides to the situation which are both difficult to argue against and personally, I understand both opinions and why people are very passionate about it. On one side, the employer is trying to keep everyone safe and healthy by requiring vaccination because it has proven to decrease the number of cases over time and has been extremely effective. Nonetheless, there are people who have certain exemptions to the vaccine mandate which could include religious, medical, etc. Therefore, the following question arises: should a business have the right to fire employees who refuse vaccination despite them having a valid reason to object?
According to The Wall Street Journal, a state judge ruled that “New York City police officers can’t be fired for refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19” (Vielkind). In October of 2021, the former Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, introduced vaccination requirements shortly before the Omicron variant caused a spike in cases. Because of this, many workers requested exclusion from the mandate because of religious reasons or, some decided to simply not follow it. Despite many employees’ opposition to the mandate, the federal judges upheld it, and “the current case, brought by the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, argued that penalties for noncompliance, including suspension and termination, could be arrived at only through collective bargaining” (Vielkind). Along with this, Justice Frank noted in his four-page opinion that the court agreed with the vaccine mandate and declared that it was “appropriate” and “lawful.’” However, in reference to employment, “‘the Court however does not see, nor have respondents established a legal basis or lawful authority for the [Health Department] to exclude employees from the workplace and impose any other adverse employment action as an appropriate enforcement mechanism of the vaccine mandate’” (Vielkind). This decision was announced shortly after New York City Mayor Eric Adams declared that the city would no longer demand vaccinations for the private sector but would maintain the obligation of some of the public workers in the city.
As stated by the city’s Health Department, the amount of COVID cases on September 23, 2022, was significantly lower than the amount in January and the number of people hospitalized dropped as compared to the number in April 2020. Therefore, there is evidence that the vaccination and other important factors, like masks and social distancing, have helped states slowly recover and keep citizens healthy. Relating back to the connection between the vaccine and employment, the city’s legal department finally filed an appeal since the verdict contrasted with each previous court that chose to keep the mandate as a requirement for employment. But the number of officers who have been fired or placed on leave due to the vaccine mandate has not been disclosed by the NYPD and PBA and PBA President Patrick Lynch stated that the mandate was, “‘an improper infringement on our members’ right to make personal medical decisions in consultation with their own health care professionals’” (Vielkind). In my opinion, I do agree that requiring workers to get vaccinated would ultimately be beneficial, but I think that certain exemptions should be allowed before firing an employee. There should be a compromise, which I believe they have eventually come to, which is only requiring workers to get vaccinated if their job forced them to come in close contact with others, like healthcare workers and some others. Overall, the Coronavirus has caused many issues in relation to not only health, safety, and the economy, but to law and ethics.
Link: https://www.wsj.com/articles/nypd-officers-cant-be-fired-for-refusing-covid-19-vaccine-judge-rules-11663971932
SHU Library Subscription: https://www.proquest.com/newspapers/nypd-officers-cant-be-fired-refusing-covid-19/docview/2717162428/se-2
Jamie is an accounting major at the Stillman School of Business, Seton Hall University, Class of 2025.