Court rules to halt UCS’ vax mandate

Supreme Court Justice Christina L. Ryba put a temporary halt to the Unified Court System’s vaccine mandate on Monday.  Photo courtesy of St. John’s Episcopal Hospital

By Jacob Kaye

As vaccine mandates are being challenged throughout the city, the New York State Supreme Court Officers Association temporarily won a challenge to the Unified Court System’s mandate which went into effect on Monday.

The ruling by Supreme Court Justice Christina L. Ryba on Monday granted the Supreme Court officers’ union a temporary restraining order, pausing the implementation of the UCS’ mandatory vaccination program.

"From day one, we have argued that UCS, as our employer, is compelled by our collective bargaining agreement to negotiate with us any changes that impact the terms and conditions of our employment concerning issues that impact our health and safety,” SCOA President Patrick Cullen said in a statement. “A unilateral vaccine mandate that has enormous health and safety implications directly flies in the face of our employment rights.”

“We believe our members have a right to make their own decisions when it comes to their health and they should be afforded the right to make that choice when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine,” he added.

Under the mandate, which was first announced in late August shortly after the Pfizer vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, all court employees are required to have at least one dose of the vaccine by Sept. 27.

Those who don’t comply will be sent home and docked vacation and compensation time. If or when that time runs out, the staff member or judge will be docked pay. The court system has yet to determine further consequences, including termination, according to an Office of Court Administration spokesperson.

SCOA’s lawsuit claimed that the courts violated the union’s collective bargaining agreement by imposing the mandate without first negotiating with the union.

The union contacted the New York State Public Employment Board, which found cause “to believe that UCS's unilateral implementation of the mandatory vaccination requirement was an improper practice.”

In her decision, Ryba referenced a recent decision by the court in Civil Service Employees Association Inc., Local 1000, AFSCME, AFL-CIO v New York State Unified Court System, which granted a temporary restraining order for those union members against the same vaccine mandate.

“The Court finds that the issues in this matter are indistinguishable from those presented in CSEA v UCS,” Ryba wrote. “As was the case in CSEA v UCS, here UCS has failed to identify the required clear legislative intent to permit the unilateral circumvention of the mandatory bargaining requirement for matters that affect the terms and conditions of employment.”

Ryba also ordered the UCS to grant full back pay and benefits to officers who may have been sent home on Monday.

The OCA said that it is worried that with the temporary halt on the mandate, more people could contract COVID-19.

“This is not business as usual, this is a situation where time is of the essence, as it is a life and death situation that also has implications for their membership as well,” said OCA spokesperson Lucian Chalfen.

Currently, SCOA members are among the least vaccinated groups inside the court system at 59 percent. With around 1,400 members who work in New York City and the 9th Judicial District, around 550 SCOA members remain unvaccinated.

All judicial and non-judicial staff throughout the state are 85 percent vaccinated, according to Chalfen.

Around 160 court employees and judges have tested positive for COVID-19 in September and nearly just as many tested positive the month prior, according to the OCA.

The courts aren’t the only institution facing legal challenges to its vaccine mandates.

A federal appeals court removed a temporary block on New York City’s vaccine mandate for Department of Education employees on Tuesday. A lower court had ordered to block the mandate on Friday.

SCOA and the UCS will appear back in court for the case on Oct. 1.