UFT Wins Arbitration To Allow Members Who Wont Get Vaccinated To Keep Their Jobs...Maybe

 

Martin Scheinman wrote the decision on the vaccine issue. 

Read his decision

In a lawsuit filed for teachers who are not vaccinated, the Judge granted a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the NYC Department of Education. A hearing on this issue will be held on September 22, 2021:

NYC court temporarily blocks City Hall’s DOE vaccine mandate

Betsy Combier

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UFT Press Release:

For Immediate Release – September 10, 2021


ARBITRATOR RULES CITY MUST OFFER NON-CLASSROOM WORK TO TEACHERS WITH COVID VACCINATION MEDICAL/RELIGIOUS EXEMPTIONS

OFFICE OR REMOTE ASSIGNMENTS MUST BE AVAILABLE FOR VACCINATED TEACHERS WITH SUPRESSED IMMUNE SYSTEMS

ARBITRATION FINDING ALSO CALLS FOR UNPAID LEAVES WITH HEALTH COVERAGE, ALONG WITH SEVERANCE ARRANGEMENTS

An independent arbitrator has ruled that New York City teachers with certain documented medical conditions must be offered non-classroom assignments. Other staffers reluctant to take the vaccine must be offered either an unpaid leave that maintains their health coverage, or a severance package.

UFT President Michael Mulgrew said, “As a group, teachers have overwhelmingly supported the vaccine, but we have members with medical conditions or other reasons for declining vaccination. After our demand for independent arbitration, the city backed off its initial position that all unvaccinated personnel be removed from payroll, and will offer out-of-classroom work for those with certified medical or other conditions.”

“The city has also agreed – based on the arbitrator’s determination – to create both a leave process and a severance agreement for other teachers who feel that they cannot comply with the vaccination mandate.”

The teacher vaccine mandate is scheduled to go into effect on September 27th, 2021. Classes begin Monday, September 13.

The UFT estimates that more than 80 percent of teachers have already been vaccinated, either through the union’s own vaccination program or through other city and state initiatives.

Medical exemptions

Under the terms of the arbitrator’s ruling, teachers and other staff with certain medical conditions that prevent them from being vaccinated, either temporarily or permanently, including certain cancer treatments, must be offered educational and administrative work in non-classroom buildings.

In cases where teachers seek exemptions for medical conditions not on the list, independent arbitrators will decide if the exemption is appropriate.

Teachers who have been vaccinated but whose immune systems are suppressed must also be offered office or remote assignments as long as their medical conditions last.

Religious exemptions

Exemption requests shall be considered for recognized and established religious organizations and not where the objection is personal, political, or philosophical in nature. Applications for religious exemptions must be documented in writing by clergy or a religious official. Appeals of religious exemption denials will be heard by the same independent arbitrators ruling on medical exemption appeals.

Unpaid leaves

Teachers who are not vaccinated but for whom medical exemptions are unavailable must be offered unpaid leaves that will last until next September. While their salaries will be withheld, the city will continue their medical insurance coverage.

Such teachers will be returned to their jobs and the payroll if and when they decide to be vaccinated. If they have not been vaccinated by the end of that leave, the system will assume they have resigned.

Severance

Staff who decline to accept an unpaid leave must be offered a severance package that would include payment for unused sick days, along with health insurance until the end of the school year. They would also be entitled to apply to return to city schools in the future.

Unvaccinated teachers who refuse all options will be subject to the disciplinary process.

Arbitration and the legal process

Arbitration is a process outside of the court system that is used to resolve differences between parties, often over contract interpretation -- in this case a dispute between the UFT and the city over the impact of the Health Department’s vaccine mandate on the work of teachers and other staff members.

The arbitration finding does not resolve the underlying issue of whether the city has the legal authority to issue such a mandate for teachers and other city workers. The question of the city’s legal authority can only be resolved by the courts. The Municipal Labor Committee, of which the UFT is a member, has brought a suit in Manhattan Supreme Court to resolve that issue.

The arbitration was conducted by Martin F. Scheinman, of Scheinman Arbitration and Mediation Services. 

 

De Blasio loses to UFT, must allow teachers exemptions to vaccinations

Carl Campanile and Sam Raskin, NY POST, Sept 10, 2021

In a blow to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s vaccine mandate for all teachers without exception, an arbitrator has ruled the city needs to provide accommodations to staff with medical conditions or religious beliefs that preclude them from getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

The decision — coming late Friday, just days before the start of the new school year — declares that public school teachers who refused to get inoculated against COVID-19 have to be offered unpaid leave or a severance package.

Under the ruling, authored by meditator Martin Scheinman, most teachers can stay on payroll while their application for a vaccine or medical exemption is being heard, or if they appeal a denial of their request.

Teachers who resign due to refusal to get jabbed won’t be immediately fired; they will be able to take leave without pay and will be entitled to health insurance through September 2022, the decision states.

Teachers who get vaccinated while on leave without pay and provide proof of a jab to the DOE before Nov. 30, “shall have a right of return to the same school as soon as is practicable,” the ruling reads. 

The decision also bars objections to the vaccine on political and philosophical grounds, and puts in place strict criteria on who is allowed to be exempt because of their religious beliefs or medical condition. 

“As a group, teachers have overwhelmingly supported the vaccine, but we have members with medical conditions or other reasons for declining vaccination,” United Federation of Teachers President Michael Mulgrew said after the ruling.

“After our demand for independent arbitration, the city backed off its initial position that all unvaccinated personnel be removed from payroll, and will offer out-of-classroom work for those with certified medical or other conditions.

“The city has also agreed – based on the arbitrator’s determination – to create both a leave process and a severance agreement for other teachers who feel that they cannot comply with the vaccination mandate,” Mulgrew added.

De Blasio announced Aug. 23 that all DOE staffers need to receive at least one shot of a COVID-19 vaccine by Sept. 27. Students return to Big Apple public school classrooms for the start of the school year on Monday.

Schools Chancellor Meisha Ross Porter said of the ruling, “Our vaccine mandate was put into place for the health and safety of our children, and the protection of our employees.”

“We’re pleased that the binding arbitration was issued before the first day of school and we will swiftly implement the terms,” she added in a statement Friday. “There will be over 700 vaccination sites in our schools across the City every day next week, and we encourage all DOE employees to get vaccinated as soon as possible.”

The decision comes on the heels of the union vowing to arbitrate the specifics of the vaccine mandate along with other labor groups. While Mulgrew has acknowledged the vaccine mandate will be enacted, he lamented last week that talks with city officials had entered “a very bad place” over issues like medical concerns. 

“It’s clear that the two sides are very very far apart when it comes to this vaccine mandate,” Mulgrew told reporters on Sept. 2 following a Town Hall with members.

Last month, union leaders representing 350,000 city workers announced they were filing a legal action to stop de Blasio from enacting a vaccine mandate for Department of Education employees without their input. The labor leaders on Friday followed through on their pledge to file a lawsuit.

The unions claim in their suit that they “support vaccination and encourage all employees to vaccinate if they are able,” but claim the mayor’s rule is “poorly-conceived” and “coercive.” 

Additional reporting by Nolan Hicks