Senator Andrew Lanza (R-Staten Island) introduced Senate Bill S7466a and Assemblymember Jamie Williams (D-Canarsie/Marine Park) introduced Assembly Bil A9196 which would reinstate all of the thousands of New York City workers who were fired or displaced for declining the COVID shot. It is long past time for New York government to begin to repair the damage done by the extreme, ineffective, and repressive response to COVID by state and local authorities. Passing Resolution 5 and S7466a/A9196l would be an important step toward that goal.
TAKE ACTION
This Action Alert is only for New York City residents to take action to pass New York City Council Resolution 5.
Please use the panel to the right to send a message to your City Councilmember asking him or her to co-sponsor Resolution 5.
And please call your City Councilmember and ask him or her to co-sponsor Resolution 5
Look up your Councilmember’s contact information here:
https://council.nyc.gov/districts/
All New York State Residents may Take Action here:
https://www.votervoice.net/AUTISMACTION/Campaigns/111789/Respond
WHY WE NEED THIS BILL TO BECOME LAW?
Unvaccinated City Workers have been battling in the courts for over two years with multiple victories, but everyone has been intentionally tied up in lengthy appeal processes which may take years to resolve.
If NYC did it before, they can do it again. A law like this would set a solid legislative precedent that could prevent future discriminatory mandates from anywhere in the state of New York, as we saw during the COVID crisis.
NYC has a shortage of workers in almost every single agency - police, firefighters, teachers, etc. There are thousands of workers ready to fill these positions that are being blocked by the city in multiple forms.
Thousands of NYC workers remain employed although they are unvaccinated: some were granted exemptions while others were still in the process of appealing exemption decisions when NYC halted its enforcement of the mandate. Terminated and displaced workers deserve equal protection and treatment under the law.
Many workers were coerced into early retirements over the COVID vaccine mandate. In rare instances, reinstatements have been achieved at the discretion of their former agencies. However, those that were unlawfully terminated are being presented with a waiver of civil service rights by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services as a prerequisite to reinstatement. This waiver would end all rights for employees to sue NYC for losing their job, but has not even been applied equally in all cases. The precedent has been set that terminated members can be reinstated without signing a waiver, and this standard must be applied equally in fairness to all concerned.
No coherent citywide protocol has been developed by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services to implement the reinstatement of displaced workers. This legislation would necessitate the development and implementation of such a protocol to be applied across agencies in a uniform manner.
NYC Department of Education (DOE) has issued “Problem Codes” to unvaccinated educators simply for not getting the COVID shot. These codes have prevented numerous teachers and workers from getting jobs even after interviewing and being told they would be hired.
Being unvaccinated is not a crime!
Being unvaccinated against COVID poses no danger to anyone!
Many unvaccinated workers did not consent to the risks involved in this coerced medical intervention; informed consent to medical procedures must be honored as is codified in both federal and state law.
Being unvaccinated should not cause anyone to lose their livelihood, lose their medical insurance, lose their retirement plan, or lose their status of good standing in the community.
COVID vaccines were not designed to stop transmission of the SARS CoV-2, and they did not stop transmission. This made them an unsuccessful intervention in terms of preventing the virus from spreading.
Natural immunity to the virus is more long lasting and robust than vaccine induced immunity, but was never considered when workers were fired.
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