Five former NYPD officers—including three members of the bomb squad—are suing the city and its mayor for $75 million, claiming the COVID-19 vaccine mandate unjustly ended their careers and impacted their pensions.
The officers said they’ve lost out on a “full pension, with annual interest, and health benefits” after Mayor Adams fired city employees for refusing to get vaccinated.
The five former officers—each with decades of experience—opened a Federal Court lawsuit against the city, Mr. Adams, and then-Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi, alleging they “paid a heavy price for refusing compulsory vaccination, while every other unvaccinated person paid no price at all.”
Their complaint further states that the layoffs added insult to injury when the Mayor created an “elite” exemption for athletes in March 2022, such as for unvaccinated NBA player Kyrie Irving of the Brooklyn Nets. In addition, the layoffs came at a time when it was becoming clear that the vaccine doesn’t stop the transmission of the virus as had been promised by officials.
“These guys were climbing all the way up the ladder and Adams just kicked them down for nothing,” attorney Chad Levaglia told the New York Post. “The biggest and most important difference between this lawsuit and any others is we’re directly challenging the efficacy of this vaccine, we’re saying, ‘This didn’t work and you knew it, Adams.’”
“Courts have repeatedly upheld the city’s vaccine mandate as lawful. We’ll review the specifics of this case once served,” a Law Department spokesman told the newspaper.
Detectives Jean Pierre Sylvestre, a U.S. Marine veteran with 20 years on the job; Paul McCartney, another U.S. Marine with 17 years of experience; Joseph Trancho, with 18 years on the force; Sgt. Craig Collopy, 27 years of service; and Lt. Christopher Eckert, two decades of service—have all not reapplied for their former jobs.
The vaccine mandate for city employees was lifted in February, and those fired were given the opportunity to re-apply for their former jobs, however with no back pay or job guarantee.
“Nope. Nope. Their back pay is the pay they got when they got another job somewhere. I mean, New Yorkers should not be paying for someone that wasn’t working,” Mr. Adams said on the Caribbean Power Jam radio show, prompting unions to promise lawsuits.
The city has not yet released figures on how many have reapplied for their jobs, yet numerous lawsuits have been opened against the city over its vaccine policy.
All in all, 1,780 city employees were fired for refusing to get vaccinated, including Police, Fire Department staff, and over 900 Department of Education staffers. At first, officials said some 4,000 city employees stood against the mandate, but many changed their minds at the 11th hour in order to save their jobs.
An additional 13,000 city workers filed for medical or religious exemptions from the vaccination requirement—some 70 percent of which were denied.
