New York court crumbles COVID-19 vaccine mandate walls

OPINION:

New York’s Supreme Court has told employers who fired employees for failing to get the COVID-19 shots to reverse course, rehire those workers and — get this — give ‘em all their backpay.

Finally.

Sanity is coming back into America.

Now every other employer in the nation needs to sit up and take notice — and so, too, every other employee who was fired for standing strong on medical choice: the lawsuits are at the door.

And may the lawsuits flow!

Businesses need to be reminded but quick that their role is to make money and provide work opportunities, and not serve as the government’s go-around for matters that don’t meet constitutional muster. And governments need to be reminded their roles are to be humble public servants to the people and stewards of the limited government provisions of the Constitution, not tyrannical overlords. New York City alone fired about 1,400 employees who refused to take the shot — who refused to bend the knee and take the shot. At the same time, the vaccine mandate was unequally applied; firefighters lost their jobs, for example, but not athletes and celebrity performers. 

That’s called science, Democrat style.

Meanwhile, reports have been flying, based on data, based on statements made by Big Pharma bigwigs, that these COVID-19 shots weren’t ever tested as to whether or not they stopped the spread of the virus. Whooops. There it is.

“Being vaccinated does not prevent an individual from contracting or transmitting COVID-19,” the court found.

Besides that, the coronavirus pandemic is over — at least, according to President Joe Biden, who said as much, “the pandemic is over,” during a September 18 television interview. Democrats hate that he said that because it makes their tyranny tougher to sell; it makes more lockdowns and tax dollars for teachers’ unions tougher to demand. But said it Joe did — so here we are.

And now courts, or at least some courts, at least one court, are following that path to logic extensions. Other bureaucracies are hitching a ride.

“The NYC Board of Health voted unanimously Tuesday morning [October 26] to repeal the vaccine mandate for private employees, as initially announced by Mayor Eric Adams on Sept. 20,” ABC7 reported, in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.

“Staten Island Supreme Court Justice Ralph Porzio ruled Monday [October 25] that the vaccination requirement for a group of sanitation workers suing the city is arbitrary and capricious,” ABC7 continued.

So now these employees must be reinstated to their positions, the court ruled.

So now these employees must be given their backpay, the court ruled.

The city’s appealing. Of course the city’s appealing. Tyrants always cry when they lose, and never quit seeking power.

But perhaps COVID-19 walls that kept Americans locked in for so long are starting to crumble. A New York court told the city to tear down those walls. Let the rally call be heard throughout the nation.

• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley. Listen to her podcast “Bold and Blunt” by clicking HERE. And never miss her column; subscribe to her newsletter and podcast by clicking HERE. Her latest book, “Lockdown: The Socialist Plan To Take Away Your Freedom,” is available by clicking HERE  or clicking HERE or CLICKING HERE.