New York Supreme Court – It Was About Compliance

Darrell Castle talks about a very important decision of the New York Supreme Court to strike down the city’s vaccine mandate for employees ordering them to be reinstated immediately with back pay. Transcription / Notes: NEW YORK SUPREME COURT—IT WAS ABOUT COMPLIANCE Hello this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 28th day of October in the year of our Lord 2022. I will be talking about a very important decision of the New York Supreme Court to strike down the city’s vaccine mandate for employees ordering them to be reinstated immediately with back pay. From the Court’s decision: “It is clear that the Health Commissioner has the authority to issue public health mandates. No one is refuting that authority. However, the Health Commissioner cannot create a new condition of employment for City employees. The Health Commissioner cannot prohibit an employee from returning to work. The Health Commissioner cannot terminate employees. The Health Commissioner cannot exempt certain employees from these orders. Executive Order No. 62 renders all of these vaccine mandates arbitrary and capricious.” Now folks continuing the quote from the Court here is the kill shot for vaccine mandates at least in the City of New York. “Being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting Covid-19. As of the day of this Decision, CDC guidelines regarding quarantine and isolation are the same for vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.” I just returned from 6 days in New York, so I was very much in a New York State of mind when I read this decision. The court was offended on behalf of the employees of the City of New York who brought this suit originally. Hundreds of people were being told that no matter how many burning buildings you have entered, no matter how many violent criminals you have confronted, no matter how many hours you drove your bus or subway train during the lockdowns, no matter how many sick people you treated, if you do not get a vaccine you personally believe to be more dangerous than the virus, you are fired. Then, to put the icing on the cake, the Mayor of New York, Eric Adams, exempted athletes, and other performers from the mandates and the court said that rendered the order arbitrary and capricious. The mandate was affecting New York sports teams from fielding some of their best players and some Broadway performers were banned as Broadway was trying to gain a footing again. In other words, it did not make economic sense to continue the ban against some. The court found that reasoning rendered the order arbitrary and capricious. The Court relied on facts that are common knowledge except among the political class pointing out that the vaccine was not absolute and although New York is 80% vaccinated cases continue to occur. President Biden said on national television that the pandemic is over. The State of New York ended the Covid-19 state of emergency over a month ago. The court pointed out that its decision was not about how effective the vaccines were but about how the City’s first responders were treated. “They worked without protective gear. They were infected with Covid-19, creating natural immunity. They continued working full duty while their exemption requests were pending. They were terminated and are willing to come back to work for the city that cast them aside.” The Court also blasted city government officials for abusing the concept of state of emergency, pointing out that such things are supposed to be temporary. The Court held that the Health Commissioner does not have the authority to enact a permanent condition of employment during a state of emergency. To grant the Commissioner such authority would violate the concept of separation of powers. The section of the Court’s ruling that may and should have an impact on other jurisdictions around the country was the question of why the mandates continued to be insisted on despite the contrary evidence.