NYC, 4 Major Labor Unions Strike Deal on Vaccine Mandate
New York City and four of the city’s key labor unions have struck a deal on COVID vaccine mandates that reaffirms the city’s right to impose them and ends litigation intended to block them, while making some allowances for employees who filed medical or religious exemption requests by Nov. 2, City Hall announced Thursday.
The deal is with DC 37, Teamsters Local 237, the Uniformed Sanitationmen’s Association Local 831 and SEIU Local 300, which collectively represent about 75,000 public employees, nearly 20% of the city’s 378,000-member workforce.
But it specifically addresses medical and religious exemption filings, roughly 12,000 of which were filed ahead of Monday’s deadline for city workers to prove they had received at least one COVID vaccine dose or be put on unpaid leave. And it excludes workers employed by the Department of Education and NYC Health + Hospitals, for whom the mandate has been in place for more than a month now.
Members of unions that signed Thursday’s agreement who filed an exemption request by Tuesday will remain on their agencies’ payrolls and submit to weekly COVID testing pending a decision by their agencies — and any prospective appeal.
Employees who filed or do file exemption requests between Wednesday and Friday of this week are permitted to stay on payroll, also while submitting to weekly COVID tests, but must take unpaid leave if they choose to appeal decisions on their claims.
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Employees on leave without pay may choose to voluntarily leave their jobs and keep their health insurance through June 30. They can also opt to extend their leave until that date, more than six months from now, but must agree to voluntarily leave their jobs and waive their rights to challenge if they aren’t vaccinated by that same date.
As has been the case throughout the process, any employee who gets vaccinated while on unpaid leave can be reinstated at their same work location without penalty.
As of Wednesday, the most recent data available, 92% of the city’s 378,000-member workforce had complied with the mandate requiring at least one vaccine dose. That share drops to 88% when considering the employees newly affected by the mandate (remember, the rule went into effect for Department of Education and healthcare staff a month ago, at least) but that still marks a significant climb from 71%, where it stood Oct. 19, just before Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the rule.
Many newly affected workers had protested the elimination of the test-out option, but de Blasio consistently argued that those who protect and serve the public must do so in part by protecting themselves. According to him, no one who needs the help of a city EMS worker or a police officer, for example, should worry the person sent to assist them could infect them with a disease that has killed well more than 34,000 New York City residents since the pandemic first ravaged the city in 2020.
The Democrat echoed similar sentiments as he commented on the new deal reached Thursday.
“Vaccinations are critical to our recovery and our city workforce is leading the way,” he said. “Ninety-two percent of city employees have stepped up and gotten vaccinated, and this agreement ensures a fair process for those seeking exemptions. Thank you to these unions for working with us to keep New Yorkers safe.”
DOE employee unions had reached a similar agreement with the city on which much of the one announced Thursday is based. Specifically, the deal allows city employees who have applied for a vaccine mandate exemption to first receive an initial decision from their respective agencies. They then have the option to appeal that decision to an arbitrator who will review the claim based upon the same criteria used at the DOE. Employees also retain the option of appealing to an internal city panel that would evaluate the exemption request as required by applicable law.
According to the city, this process ensures those with appropriately justified medical or religious reasons not to get vaccinated have multiple options for their claim to be adjudicated and can stay on payroll and with health insurance for a longer period of time before facing any potential related consequences.
“We are proud to have negotiated collective bargaining agreements with several unions regarding the vaccination mandate, which provide a process for our employees to request medical or religious exemptions and establish rules for employees on leave without pay,” Renee Campion, commissioner of the mayor’s labor relations office, said in a statement. “We appreciate the partnership of our labor representations, and look forward to discussions with the city’s other unions.”
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