New York City’s major municipal unions won a legal victory Tuesday night when a Manhattan Supreme Court judge temporarily blocked the City Council’s vaccination warrant for Department of Education workers.
Judge Laurence L. Love issued the temporary restraining order in response to a lawsuit filed against the city by a number of large municipal unions that oppose Mayor Bill de Blasio’s directive.
The judge set a court date of Sept. 22 for unions to argue against the warrant.
Until then, Love ruled that the city is “temporarily restricted to the implementation” of the mandate, which requires all DOE officials to have at least one dose of vaccine before Sept. 27 or, failing that, completion.
Henry Garrido, as executive director of District 37 Council, one of the petitioners in the lawsuit, hailed Tuesday’s decision.
“While we believe our members should receive the vaccine, we do not believe it should be a working condition,” Garrido said in a statement.
“It simply came to our notice then. The fight is not over, but we are excited about this decision and are ready to move forward on behalf of our members. “
But a City Council spokesman downplayed the decision, saying that, based on the ruling, “there is no delay” in implementing the mandate.
“The vaccination warrant for New York City education workers, which has been adopted by the White House, goes into effect on September 27. The court’s action expires today, Sept. 22,” he said. the spokesman.
Last week, a city arbitrator ruled that DOE workers could apply for medical or religious exemptions.
Tuesday’s decision also comes after a similar ruling earlier in the day, when a federal judge granted state health workers temporary recognition of mandatory COVID-19 vaccines.