We are troubled by widespread reports that employers are firing or denying employment opportunities to unvaccinated workers without regard to potential religious or medical accommodations. See, e.g., Susan Edelman and Dean Balsamini, NYPD Puts 4,650 Vaccine Firings on Hold: Insiders, N.Y. Post, May 21, 2022 (reporting that nearly 5,000 NYPD employees are facing potential termination, including an undisclosed amount whose medical and exemption requests were rejected); Liz Hamel et al., KFF COVID-19 Vaccine Monitor: October 2021, Kaiser Family Foundation (Oct. 28, 2021) (1% of all adults lost their job due to the vaccine requirement; 8% of all adults reported that they would ask for an exemption). Government workers may have recourse under civil service laws and labor agreements, and even at-will employees cannot be easily fired here. While we are not promoting an anti-vaccine message, and indeed believe most should be vaccinated, we are concerned about employers disregarding the legally mandated accommodation process.
To be clear, the termination of workers for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine in many instances contravenes federal, state and City laws, unless they are provided with an opportunity to seek exemptions for sincerely held religious beliefs and medical reasons. Notwithstanding the headlines which suggest terminations of all vaccine refusers are permissible, relevant law requires employers to carefully consider requests for religious or medical accommodations.
