Park Slope Hospital Worker Joins Lawsuit Against Vaccine Mandate

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — A Park Slope hospital employee is among a group of healthcare workers suing Gov. Kathy Hochul for New York's vaccine mandate, court records show.

The Brooklyn Methodist Hospital employee is one of four New York healthcare workers who argue in a new lawsuit that their rights have been violated by the mandate's lack of an exemption for those with religious objections to vaccinations, documents show.

The mandate, put in place in August for healthcare workers across the state, was recently changed to only exempt employees who have a medical reason not to get the shot. Under the order, workers are required to get the vaccine by a Sept. 27 deadline.

"Governor Hochul and New York health care facilities cannot override federal law and force health care workers to violate their sincerely held religious beliefs by forcing them to inject an experimental substance," said Mat Staver, founder of the Christian group Liberty Counsel, who filed the claim. "All New York health care workers have the legal right to request reasonable accommodation for their sincerely held religious beliefs and forcing COVID shots without exemptions is unlawful.”

The lawsuit, filed earlier this week, contends the healthcare workers' religious beliefs bar them from getting the shot given the use of aborted fetal cells in the development or research for the vaccines, documents show.

The reasoning has been used by other vaccine opponents across the country despite the fact that no major religious denomination opposes vaccination. Legal experts have said the defense is unlikely to hold up in court, according to reports.

The mandate has also faced backlash from officials who fear resignations from healthcare workers over the requirement will lead to a "crisis throughout the entire health care system," according to Spectrum News 1.

The four workers, who are not identified by name in the lawsuit, contend they will be forced to leave their job if they are made to choose between their beliefs and the shot.

One of the workers, the president of a faith-based senior care facility, said the mandate will leave him with only one employee without a religious exemption option, documents show.

The Park Slope employee says the hospital told her she would be fired if she not comply by Sept. 10 and that she was put on unpaid leave for refusing to get the shot, the lawsuit states.

"All Plaintiffs seek in this lawsuit is to be able to continue to provide the healthcare they have provided to patients for their entire careers, and to do so under the same protective measures that have sufficed for them to be considered superheroes for the last 18 months," the suit contends.

The lawsuit names Hochul, New York Health Commissioner Howard Zucker and the healthcare workers' four employers in the complaint.

The governor's office did not reply to a request for comment on the lawsuit. The health department told Patch that it "does not comment on pending litigation.”