Vaccine mandate comes to the courts
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Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks announced last week that judges and staff will have to be vaccinated by Sept. 27, 2021. AP file photo by Mike Groll
By Jacob Kaye
All court staff and judges will be required to be vaccinated by the end of next month, according to Chief Administrative Judge Lawrence K. Marks.
Beginning Sept. 27, a mandatory vaccination program will be implemented for everyone who works in New York State courthouses, according to an internal email sent to judges and staff by Marks last week and obtained by the Eagle.
“The program will ensure the safest possible environment for those who work in our courthouses, who are required to conduct business in our courthouses and who are compelled to be in our courthouses,” Marks said.
The announcement of the mandate came only a few days after Chief Judge Janet DiFiore hinted in her bi-weekly message that the Unified Court System was heading toward implementing a mandate.
“With full approval to one or more of the COVID vaccines, many public and private employers have announced their intention to mandate the vaccination of their workforces, and now, after much discussion and deliberation, we intend to do the same," DiFiore said last week.
The announcement also comes as COVID-19 cases rise throughout the court system and throughout the city.
This month, the Office of Court Administration reported 145 positive COVID cases through Aug. 27. The month prior, there were 33 positive cases.
Details of the vaccine mandate have yet to be fleshed out, though they are expected to be issued in a “week or so,” according to an OCA spokesperson.
Despite the lack of detail, Marks did mention that there will be exemptions for religious or medical reasons. Those who qualify for an exemption will have to submit proof of a weekly COVID test, Marks said.
Those without an exemption will have to show proof of full vaccination.
It’s currently unclear whether judges and staff must be fully vaccinated by Sept. 27 or only partially vaccinated.
There have been several changes to COVID-19 policies within the courts this month.
In mid-August, Marks announced that judges and staff, regardless of vaccination status, would be required to wear a mask when inside public spaces in court buildings.
Around the same time, DiFiore announced that judges and non-judicial employees must show proof of vaccination or otherwise undergo regular testing. That program begins on Sept. 7.
In his message, Marks encouraged all New York Courts employees to get the shot. While Pfizer is the only vaccine that has received full approval from the FDA, all vaccines, including the Moderna and Johnson and Johnson vaccine, will be accepted.
Currently, judges are the most vaccinated group in the entire court system at around 80 percent, according to the OCA. Around 39 percent of court officers have shown proof of vaccination, the agency said.
In total, around 9,400 of the 15,600 judges and court staff, or around 60 percent, have shown proof of vaccination.
Tensions between Dennis Quirk, the president of the New York State Court Officers Association, and DiFiore and OCA over the vaccine mandate came to head on Friday afternoon.
After posting the chief judge’s addresses to Facebook earlier last week, Quirk was suspended for 30 days and his gun privileges revoked. He was additionally charged with misconduct by the Unified Court System, according to the OCA spokesperson.
Quirk told the Eagle that he posted DiFiore’s addresses because his union members were asking him to organize a protest at her home over what they felt had been disingenuous attempts to negotiate the vaccine mandate.
“We've asked for those negotiations and OCA refuses,” Quirk said prior to his suspension. “We have no idea what is the issue going to be about a religious objection? About a medical objection? And if you're denied, what's the appeal process?”
“So this all comes down to OCA refusing to meet with those refusing to negotiate and lack of communication,” he added.
An OCA spokesperson denied the characterization that the Court Officers Association hadn’t been invited in the mandate conversation.
“This is a fast moving and rapidly changing circumstance and all 12 of our unions have met with our director of Human Resources and labor relations people a number of times,” the spokesperson said. “They continue to equate this situation as if it is a negotiation about a uniform allowance.”
Following his suspension, Quirk told the Eagle that he felt his first amendment rights had been infringed upon and that it isn’t unusual for unions to picket public officials' homes, including the mayor or the governor.
“The chief judge of the State of New York is the most corrupt and unethical judge in the history of the State of New York,” Quirk said. “She is trying to squash my first amendment rights and my members first amendment rights. She had an obligation under the law that was distributed by the [Equal Employment Opportunity Commission] to negotiate the mandated vaccines and she refused to do so and violated the law. And my members want to picket her home.”
Judges and attorneys celebrated the announcement of the impending vaccine mandate last week.
“I think it's the smart approach to take,” said Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Esposito. “I don't see what the great problem is that people are making over getting the shot or not. Get the shot, get some protection and put it behind you.”
Esposito said that he and his staff are all vaccinated and have all remained safe in the months since the courts reopened.
Frank Bruno, the president of the Queens County Bar Association, said that he’s gotten the sense that the attorneys in his organization are looking forward to the fact that the judges and court staff they interact with on a regular basis will soon mostly all be vaccinated.
“To the extent that I've been informed, and my understanding of the attorney population that I represent, I think this is a population that is in favor of vaccination and in favor of mandates,” Bruno said, adding that believes most of his members are already vaccinated.
“I do think that people are coming from a position that this is in the best interest of everyone,” Bruno added. “If everyone gets it, it will be for the greater good.”
