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The NYPD’s largest union has lost its long-shot attempt to press pause of New York City’s vaccine mandate, just days before its set to be enforced for cops.
The state’s Supreme Court Second Appellate Division shot down the Police Benevolent Association’s appeal Friday requesting the judge overturn a lower court’s ruling earlier this week that denied a temporary restraining order for Mayor Bill de Blasio’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement to take effect.
A Staten Island judge denied the union’s first attempt to push back the deadline on Wednesday and schedule a hearing for arguments on an injunction on Nov. 12.
PBA President Patrick Lynch vowed to keep fighting “in order to protect the rights of all members impacted by this mandate,” according to an email sent out to union members.
Previous challenges however to an identical mandate for NYC school employees have been unsuccessful in federal court.
The new mandate requires all city employees to show proof of vaccination by 5 p.m. Friday or be placed on unpaid leave starting next week.
Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said the department will not enforce the mandate until Monday — giving cops the weekend to get the jab at the last minute.
But it appears many vaccine-hesitant cops could get up to a month-long extension if they filed for an exemption with the NYPD’s Equal Employment Opportunity Division.
Those who applied by Wednesday, which Shea said was in the “thousands,” will be able to work with testing and masking COVID protocols as their application processes.
As of Friday, the department’s vaccination rate was 80 percent.
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