NYC's unvaccinated workers face uphill battle as Mayor Adams challenges court ruling
Timothy Rivicci and Nicole Rivicci, two New York City workers fired for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, join exemption attorney Christina Martinez to discuss the legal battle over reinstating unvaccinated workers.
New York City workers unvaccinated against COVID-19 are facing an uphill battle after city officials pushed back against a Staten Island judge who ruled Monday that municipal employees fired for refusing forced vaccination must be reinstated.
Timothy and Nicole Rivicci, two residents who experienced the firings firsthand, told "Fox & Friends First" on Wednesday that the city's refusal to comply with the judge's ruling is "upsetting."
"I thought [the ruling] was great," Timothy told Todd Piro.
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New York Supreme Court building. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images)
"I was excited to be back. I've been out of work for just about a year now, and we've been struggling, we haven't been getting paid…"
The former Staten Island firefighter said he is struggling to keep up with his mortgage and pay for other bills
"It's terrible what the city's putting us through," he added.
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New York City Mayor Eric Adams speaks at the National Press Club during a press conference on gun violence and other issues on September 13, 2022. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Nicole weighed in on the uphill battle she and other unvaccinated city employees face in light of pushback from Mayor Eric Adams, calling the development "really upsetting," but saying the judge's ruling gave her hope.
Exemption attorney Christina Martinez also joined Todd Piro in-studio to assess the dustup over unvaccinated rehires, calling out the city's lawless refusal to comply with a court ruling while lambasting its alleged power grab.
"They're just refusing to comply and this isn't the first decision that has ruled that they are exceeding their authority in mandating a vaccine for city workers," Martinez said.
"The city has continuously refused to comply with these decisions, with the court orders, and they're appealing. Now we have to fight it out…"
An illustrative image of a person holding a medical syringe and a Covid-19 vaccine vial in front of the World Health Organization logo displayed on a screen. (Artur Widak/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
She said the vaccine mandates are "destroying lives," pointing to the religious exemption a court granted Timothy, although the city refused the order to reinstate him.
"He's being punished for sticking to his religious convictions even when the law provides for religious exemptions," she said.
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"The problem is, we have an administration that doesn't value religious freedom, that doesn't value medical freedom, that doesn't value our first responders.
"Mayor Adams needs to lift this mandate, get these heroes back to work and end these discriminatory policies," she added.
Fox News medical contributor Dr. Nicole Saphier also voiced her disagreement with New York City's vaccine mandate on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday, telling Lawrence Jones that any existing vaccine mandate should be "wholly repealed."
"At this point, the efficacy is at about zero [percent] in terms of protecting against illness, let alone transmission, and that was the whole impetus behind these vaccine mandates early on," she said.
Saphier also called out President Biden over his recent comments claiming that a majority of Americans who die from COVID this year will be unvaccinated, saying at least one-third of those dying from the virus have been vaccinated or boosted.