- The NYC teachers face serious issues due to refusal of the COVID vaccine and have been fired by Mayor Adams on the grounds of vaccination.
- The employees have filed a case for they have been given a “scarlet letter” which indicates black list.
Mayor Eric Adams has fired the city teachers and school employees on the grounds of refusal to Covid-19 vaccine informing them to find work elsewhere as it may cause hindrance in their ability to work if they do not take the vaccine. The Mayor has also blacklisted them by giving “Scarlet Letter”.
Their lawyer John Bursch said that most of the terminated employees declined to take the vaccine because of their religious beliefs and that the city Department of Education has put certain code which indicates wrongdoing in the files of such workers.
“Loosely speaking, it is like a scarlet letter,” Bursch told on Tuesday.
“The employee’s personnel file shows a [generic] problem code that could just as easily be [for] committing a crime as declining to take a vaccine for religious reasons. In some instances, when plaintiffs tried to obtain employment elsewhere, they were told that they were red-flagged because of the problem code.”
Bursch has filed suit claiming that the city has religiously discriminated against nearly 2000 employees by terminating them on the grounds of refusal to Covid-19 shots. Bursch who is terminated teacher’s lawyer argued claiming teachers are being refused of work due to the scarlet letter which is being explained to be blacklisted from employment in the city.
But, now the Mayor has allowed 1780 terminated workers to reapply for the jobs and has also lifted the mandate for vaccines but has also informed them about no full benefits during their absence and jobs without backpay or guarantee.
Bursch argued before judges with the US Court for the Second Circuit also that the fired employees’ “fingerprints are sent with that flag to the FBI and the New York Crime Justice Services,” harming them “irreparably.”
Acknowledging the fingerprints on Tuesday of the city employees routinely go to the FBI and Division of Criminal Justice Services for background checks Busrch says, “What’s disturbing is that these problem codes were being attached to the fingerprints.”
A former United Federation of Teachers and paralegal representative Besty Combier issued an affidavit about the “code” on behalf of plaintiffs in the case.
“When the DOE puts a problem code in the employee’s personnel file, it also places a flag on the employee’s fingerprints, which is then sent to the national databases at both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the State Division of Criminal Justice Services,” Combier said.
As per Combier’s information, the code is removed from the files after the employees submit proof of vaccination.
John Bursch on behalf of the fired workers is negotiating with the DOE officials to have negative code removed from their files. “They’re good people. It’s outrageous,” she said.
She has also spoken about the information and records shouldn’t be accessed by anyone and to make sure nobody gets the disciplinary files through the school system and personnel payroll system. The spokesperson for City Hall has denied the claims that the teachers were blacklisted for not being vaccinated.
“These are false, nonsensical claims. No code is part of anyone’s permanent personnel record or is ever sent to any other department, agency, or outside organization,” a City Hall spokesman said.
