NY Health Care Workers’ Shot Mandate Case Cries Out for Justice

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NEW YORK, NY – Liberty Counsel filed a reply brief to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals this week rebutting the State of New York’s claim that its “proposed repeal” of the COVID-19 shot mandate makes a lawsuit “moot.” Liberty Counsel represents five New York health care workers fired for refusing the shot over their deeply held religious convictions. The defendants include Governor Kathy Hochul, Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard A. Zucker, Trinity Health, Inc., New York Presbyterian Healthcare System, Inc., and Westchester Medical Center Advanced Physician Services, P.C.

New York required employers to force health care workers to get the COVID shots and prohibited them from granting religious exemptions, while permitting nonreligious medical exemptions. This mandate directly conflicts with the federal employment law known as Title VII.

The Plaintiffs could not accept the COVID-19 shots due to their sincerely held religious beliefs that prevent them from accepting any shot associated with aborted fetal cell lines. The case was originally dismissed at the district court level and has been appealed to the Second Circuit. The State of New York seeks to dismiss the lawsuit and proposes to the Court to “send the plaintiffs home” because the case “will certainly be moot when the repeal process is complete.”