UPDATED: Newark City Workers Must Get Vaccine, Or Could Be Fired

NEWARK, NJ — New Jersey’s largest city is requiring all municipal workers to get a coronavirus vaccine – or they could lose their jobs, reports say.

There will be “medical and religious exemptions” to the city’s mandate, which became effective Monday. See the full executive order below.

The order gives unvaccinated employees 30 days to provide proof they got inoculated. They must provide a negative COVID-19 test each week until then. Workers who refuse to get a shot will be subject to discipline, including termination, NJ.com reported.

Police and fire department union leaders filed a restraining order to stop the effort, with one union official calling the move “heavy-handed,” News 12 New Jersey reported.

The State Employment Relations Commission has granted a temporary restraint for the order; there will be hearing later this month, ABC New York reported.

“Requiring our municipal workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine is about protecting the health and well-being of our municipal team, their families, as well as the residents and visitors they come into contact with,” Mayor Ras Baraka said.

“As positive cases of coronavirus are rising again, due to the highly contagious delta variant, we need to take whatever steps necessary to safeguard and ensure everyone’s safety,” Baraka added. “The introduction and enforcement of this requirement is purely intended and designed to combat a dreadful pandemic that we have been fighting against for more than a year.”

• See related article: Essex County Bumped Up To 'High' COVID Level: See Stats For Newark
• See related article: COVID Vaccines, Tests In Essex County (How To Get Yours)

In March, the state Department of Health ruled that an employer can require New Jersey residents to get the COVID-19 vaccine in order to enter a workplace. But the state DOH said there are at least three exceptions to that rule:

• The employee has a disability that would prevent them from getting the vaccine.
• The employee's doctor advised them not to get the vaccine while pregnant or breastfeeding
• The employee has sincerely held religious beliefs, practices or observances that would prevent them from being inoculated.

If the employee can prove such exceptions, the employer must provide a reasonable accommodation, the state DOH.

• See related article: COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates And New Jersey — Perfect Together?

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