POUGHKEEPSIE – City Court Judge Frank Mora has been given permission to preside over cases virtually after being banned from the courtroom for failing to get vaccinated. He is still receiving his salary. Court officers are denouncing the state’s arrangement with Mora, calling it a “double standard.”
The story about Mora being banned from the courtroom can be found HERE.
Unlike Judge Mora, the State Office of Court Administration (OCA) is requiring the court officers that protect the judges, staff, and the courts to provide proof of vaccination to continue working. The President of the New York State Supreme Court Officers Association, Sergeant Patrick Cullen, said that 53 of his members are prevented from working because they have not been vaccinated. Approximately half of those officers work in the 9th Judicial District, covering Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, and Westchester counties.
Many of the members have applied for religious or medical exemptions to the vaccine. Because they have not received the vaccine they have been declared “unfit for duty.” The deadline given to the 53 officers is 10 days following their exemption denial. There is no appeal process if an exemption has been denied. If an officer applied for an exemption and it was denied, with no reason given, the officer must remain out using accrued personal time until they present verification of a dose of the vaccine. If they choose to remain unvaccinated after being found unfit, they will exhaust accrued time and be taken off the payroll, ending their career.
Cullen denounced the current process. “There has always been a double standard between how OCA treats judges and non-judicial employees. It’s never been clearer than with the situation currently playing itself out in Poughkeepsie City Court, where a sitting judge is working from home and flouting the safety protocols for our courts appearing in the building without a mask.” The union leader added that “Security personnel do not have the luxury of working from home and so a separate set of rules for court employees once again becomes a glaring issue.” Currently one of the court officers declared “unfit for duty” works in the Poughkeepsie City Court.
The union, Cullen said, has a case pending in front of the Public Employees Relations Board. “We are seeking to bargain the terms and conditions moving forward as to how someone in this situation can separate from service. We are going to lose some great officers over all of this when there would be zero harm in allowing the affected members to test weekly.”
