In this challenge to a denial of the employee's [Petitioner] request for a religious exemption from the COVID-19 vaccination requirement for employees of the City of New York, brought pursuant to CPLR Article 78, the Appellate Division unanimously affirmed the Citywide Panel's determination denying the Petitioner's application for the exemption.
The court said the Petitioner had failed to demonstrate that the Citywide Panel's determination was arbitrary and capricious or made in violation of lawful procedure as the Citywide Panel had a rational basis for denying Petitioner's administrative appeal from the denial of his application for a religious exemption from the vaccination requirement, based on the Citywide Panel's findings that: Petitioner:
1. Petitioner failed to establish that his objection to receiving any of the COVID-19 vaccines was based on a sincerely held religious belief, given that he "had no demonstrated history of refusing medications or vaccines" other than declining to receive flu vaccinations for unspecified reasons; and
2. Petitioner failed to address whether he had "avoided any other vaccines or medications based on the same objection he raised to the COVID-19 vaccines".
Citing Matter of Marsteller v City of New York, 217 AD3d 543, the Appellate Division noted "It is not dispositive that the Citywide Panel's determination did not set forth any reasoning; a member of the Panel clarified the basis for the determination in an affirmation submitted in the article 78 proceeding".
Click HERE to access the Appellate Division's decision posted on the Internet.