BUFFALO (WBEN) - New York State is now facing several lawsuits that are seeking an injunction to stop the healthcare worker vaccine mandate that will go into effect Monday.
Due to the extension of a temporary restraining order issued by a federal judge in Utica earlier this week, those who claim and are granted a religious exemption to the vaccine do not have to get a shot, and that temporary restraining order will stay in place up through October 12.
"(The judge) is basically saying, 'Till I've had a chance to look at this case more seriously with respect to you preliminary injunction request, I'm going to issue a temporary restraining order and prevent the state from not accepting religious exemption requests,'" said Corey Hogan of HoganWillig. "He's mandated that, with respect to the Health Department order, that they must accept religious exemptions requests and honor valid ones."
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According to Hogan, the judge in that case, David Hurd, will render a decision around October 12, and Hurd indicated he will not need to hear oral arguments with respect to the request for a preliminary injunction. If Hurd grants the preliminary injunction, it would be in place until the actual case is heard in their request for a permanent injunction, which could be months away.
Governor Kathy Hochul said Thursday that this court case will not stop the state from implementing the mandate come Monday, as the temporary restraining order only applies to those who claim and are granted a religious exemption, not the entire healthcare worker population.
"No, that does not prohibit us from exercising this (mandate)," said Hochul. "That is a very limited class of individuals who are claiming that - I believe there are actually 14 or 17 plaintiffs in that case - a limited number of people. That has no bearing on our strict deadline of Monday."
Hogan is also filing two lawsuits on behalf of 700-800 individuals across the state.
"It revolves around the fact that the vaccine mandate itself...was not adopted properly," said Hogan. "It was done by the executive, but it should be a law that's passed by the Senate and the Assembly. This is not a simple interpretation of a statute, which is what a regulation is supposed to do. They basically said to 450,000 workers, 'If you're not vaccinated by September 27 or October 4, you're not going to have a job.' That would normally require legislation."
The second suit, which is being filed in federal court, argues that the state simply cannot require such a large portion of the population to get vaccinated if they don't want to.
Regardless of the legal fights, Hochul said she's sticking to her guns on this mandate.
"Maybe I'm optimistic - that's how I always am - that people will realize that this is serious, that there's not going to be a change in my position because I'm not going to do anything that will compromise the health of the people of this state that I'm charged to protect," she began. "I believe that it's critically important for our healthcare workers to be as healthy as they can before they attend to the health of others - that's what this is all about."
