NYPD union sues city over vaccine mandate

A police union representing officers in the New York Police Department (NYPD) announced on Monday that it was suing to challenge New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all city workers.

The New York City Police Benevolent Association (PBA) announced the lawsuit by sharing a letter from its president, Patrick Lynch, on Twitter.

{mosads}”This morning, the PBA filed our lawsuit in Staten Island state Supreme Court seeking to overturn the vaccine mandate announced last week,” Lynch’s letter read.

“We will also be filing a request for a temporary restraining order asking the court to bar the City and the NYPD from implementing the mandate while out suit is pending,” he added.

UPDATE: VACCINE MANDATE LAWSUIT FILED pic.twitter.com/e2RDASzJ0U

— NYC PBA (@NYCPBA) October 25, 2021

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) last week expanded the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate to all city workers, including employees with the NYPD. The city was also doing away with its weekly testing alternative to vaccines. City workers will be required to show proof of having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Oct. 29.

Those who do not show proof of vaccination by Oct. 29 will be placed on unpaid leave until they get vaccinated. Workers who do show proof of vaccination will receive a $500 bonus in their next paycheck.

{mossecondads}”We have led the way against COVID-19 — from fighting for the right to vaccinate frontline workers, to providing nation-leading incentives, to creating the Key to NYC mandate,” de Blasio said last week. “As we continue our recovery for all of us, city workers have been a daily inspiration. Now is the time for them to show their city the path out of this pandemic once and for all.” 

The PBA is not the only group representing New York City workers that has opposed the vaccine mandate. Last month, a group of New York City public school teachers asked the Supreme Court to block the city’s vaccine mandate.

“Thousands of school teachers will lose their livelihoods if they are without pay and cannot work anywhere else, their ability to serve the children of New York City, and, of course, their ranking as teachers,” the lawyer representing the teachers, Vinoo Varghese, told The Hill at the time.