NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Several members of the FDNY have filed a lawsuit arguing the department's COVID-19 vaccine mandate is unfair, allowing only three members out of 1,700 applicants to be exempt.
Uniformed Firefighters Association President Andrew Ansbro said in their lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court that the mandate implemented by former Mayor Bill de Blasio forces firefighters to deal with the "untenable and offensive position of having to choose between violating their religious beliefs or keeping their jobs."
De Blasio's city worker mandate, announced on Oct. 20, said city employees would be required to receive their first vaccine shot by Oct. 29 or be placed on unpaid leave by Nov. 1.
While medical and religious exemptions were permitted, the lawsuit claimed firefighters were not told by the FDNY how to apply for them and that they were given an "unreasonably" short deadline to file.
"Nevertheless, approximately 1,700 firefighters filed for religious or medical accommodations," according to the lawsuit, and only three were allowed "without any explanation" about the supposed contrast.
The suit now asks to suspend the evaluations of exemption until the department can "begin employing cooperative dialogue on each case" and open up on about each denial.
The lawsuit also seeks to vacate past denials for reconsideration and place those denied FDNY members back on the force with back pay after they were forced to go on unpaid leave.
The New York Post notes that as the mandate approached its deadline in October, 26 FDNY companies faced staffing shortages.
Despite de Blasio's claims that "all the fire houses are open" during a Nov. 2 news conference, Ansbro said 60 companies were closed just a day before.
At the time, he blamed it on overworked members — not the mandate.
"Right now, New York City firefighters are being worked to their limit, and you would expect medical leave to go up," he said at the time.
A spokesperson with the city Law Department told The Post on Monday that "the court has already dismissed a suit brought by members of the FDNY challenging the vaccination mandate, and we’re confident the result of this case will be the same."
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