Earlier today, NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a first-in-the-nation vaccine mandate covering all private-sector workers in NYC that will take effect on December 27, 2021. According to Mayor de Blasio, the mandate will cover approximately 184,000 businesses.
NYC is set to publish guidelines for employers on December 15, which will provide employers with less than two weeks to implement and enforce the new mandate. Although we do not yet know the full scope of the new requirement, we anticipate that there will be few exceptions. We also anticipate that the mandate will be challenged in the courts. Mayor de Blasio announced that the mandate will apply to all in-person employees, and those employees will not have the option of getting regularly tested in lieu of vaccination. Employees must have at least one dose of the vaccine by December 27.
We will continue to provide updates as more information and guidance is issued relating to this vaccine mandate. If you have any questions regarding this Alert, please contact, Philip Davidoff, pdavidoff@fordharrison.com, partner, and Timothy Barbetta, tbarbetta@fordharrison.com, senior associate, in our New York City office. Of course, you can also contact the FordHarrison attorney with whom you usually work.