The Department has been processing denials of appeals for previously denied requests for exemptions to the Citywide COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate (“Mandate”) on the grounds of religiously-based and/or medically-based reasonable accommodations that are consistently being issued by the City Reasonable Accommodation Appeals Panel (“Panel”). The DEA’s most recent litigation effort to halt this process was denied by Supreme Court, New York County, which rejected our application for a temporary restraining order that prominently featured our arguments involving the rise in crime rates and the need for the robust staffing heading into the summer months. This result should come as no surprise, given that the courts, both at the State and federal levels, have consistently rebuffed all attempts to challenge the Mandate.
As such, we advise all DEA members, who are awaiting determinations from the Panel, routinely to check their Department email accounts for emails from the Department: likely the sender will be “MEO Leave Desk” of the NYPD and the suffix of the email address will be “@nypd.org.” If the DEA member receives such an email, then he/she will have seven (7) calendar days to submit proof of receiving the first shot of the Pfizer/Moderna vaccine or the single shot of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine by uploading said proof onto the Central Personnel Resource (“CPR”) System. Failure to submit proof of vaccination within seven (7) calendar days will result in the affected DEA member being placed in Leave Without Pay (“LWOP”) status. If said DEA member thereafter fails or refuses to comply with this departmental directive, then he/she will be terminated three (3) days after being placed in LWOP status. Such termination will result in the loss of the DEA member’s retirement benefits, including but not limited to, loss of pension benefits, forfeiture of Terminal Leave, denial of a “good guy” letter, and forfeiture of accrued Vacation and Comp Time. The Union is taking this opportunity to advise all unvaccinated DEA members who are adversely affected by these determinations by the Panel of the drastic and draconian consequences that will follow.
For those DEA members who are informed that their appeal has been denied by the Panel and have received an email indicating the same from the “MEO Leave Desk” of the NYPD, as detailed above, you have two (2) options in order to avoid being terminated: 1) submit proof of vaccination by uploading said proof onto the CPR System within seven (7) calendar days; or 2) immediately file for either a vested retirement (more than five [5], but less than 20 years of pensionable service) or a service retirement (20 or more years of pensionable service). By timely filing for retirement, members will be permitted to “run out” their accrued Vacation and Comp Time and be remunerated for their Terminal Leave (if more than 20 years in service). By taking such action, said DEA members will be protecting their entitlement both to their retirement benefits and to their City-provided medical insurance. Any DEA member who is terminated will also lose Union-provided health benefits (i.e., dental, optical, and prescription) because the Trust Fund Agreements by and between the City and DEA only permit these Union benefit funds to expend monies on behalf of active or retired (but not terminated) DEA members.
Please be advised that this update only applies to DEA members whose original request for a reasonable accommodation to the Mandate was denied by the Department and whose appeal was similarly denied by the Panel. There are still some DEA members who have not received a determination concerning their initial reasonable accommodation request from the NYPD EEOD. This update does not apply to those members. For those DEA members who are just now receiving their initial denials of their respective reasonable accommodation requests from the NYPD EEOD, they have seven (7) days from the receipt of the NYPD EEOD determination to appeal said denial to the Panel. Please follow the instructions and the link in the email from the NYPD EEOD to appeal said determination to the Panel.
