A New York judge ruled Wednesday that 10 employees who refused the vaccine and were fired by the New York City Department of Education (DOE) must be reinstated with back pay, according to court documents.
The case involved school principals, teachers and other education officials who sued after city officials rejected their religious exemption to the vaccine mandate. New York State Supreme Court Judge Ralph J. Porzio ruled that the city’s denials of religious accommodation to certain employees were unlawful, “arbitrary and capricious,” and that the DOE must reinstate the teachers with back pay as a result of violating their rights, according to the ruling. (RELATED: Government Lockdowns Crushed Two Decades Of K-12 Learning)
“This court finds no rational basis for the seemingly blanket denial of any religious exemption to all classroom teachers,” the ruling reads.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – MAY 05: A hallway is seen empty during a day of school portrait shoots at Sun Yat Sen M.S. 131 middle school on May 05, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
“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. As such, each classroom teacher amongst the Panel Petitioners is entitled to a religious exemption from the Vaccine Mandate,” the ruling continues.
New York City’s vaccine mandate for all DOE workers was in effect until Feb. 10, 2023, according to The New York Post.
The New York State Unified Court System previously ruled in March that New York City must rehire and provide back pay to employees fired because of the city’s vaccine mandate. Hundreds of teachers and education workers in New York City lost their jobs for refusing to comply with New York City’s vaccine mandate in 2021 and 2022.
The New York City DOE did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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