Deadline Dec. 5! Fired by New York City for Refusing the COVID Vaccine? Here’s How to Get Your Job Back

For more than four years, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) has funded lawsuits supporting NYC workers fired for refusing the COVID-19 shot.

Just last month, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a process for fired unvaccinated workers to apply for reinstatement without signing a legal waiver, which allows these former employees to get back to work while continuing to pursue lawsuits in both state and federal court.

However, since the mayor’s announcement, the city has made little effort to inform fired unvaccinated workers of this process. We need your help in sharing this critical information with them.

In order to meet the city’s deadline, anyone interested in being reinstated must send an email to their agency’s HR department on or before Dec. 5, 2025.

This very short deadline has prompted CHD to get the word out as far as we possibly can. Many New Yorkers have moved to Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and other states in search of medical and religious freedom.

Many of these people were fired from jobs in New York City for not getting the COVID-19 shot. Some have moved on to have successful lives and careers in new states — but others are still struggling and may be interested in returning to the city for reinstatement.

If you or someone you know was fired from public work in NYC, here is what action to take to reserve the possibility of being reinstated to work:

Send an email on or before this Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, requesting more information on NYC’s reinstatement process:

New York City Public Schools
Send email to: NYCPSServicereturn2025@schools.nyc.gov

New York Police Department
Send email to: Yonette.GrahamDecaul@nypd.org

New York Fire Department
Send email to: ChiefofPersonnel@fdny.nyc.gov

New York Department of Sanitation
Send email to: HR@dsny.nyc.gov (Attention: Hyacinth Rose)

If there is no email address here for the New York City agency you worked for, contact the HR department of your former agency before this Friday, Dec. 5, 2025.

Here’s a sample email you can use as is or tailor as needed:

My name is ___________. I was denied accommodation to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in 2021, and write to request reinstatement pursuant to Mayor Adams’ recent announcement. The position I held was [list position, location, and years of service]. I look forward to receiving additional information and learning the next steps in the process.

This is not legal advice. However, we believe it’s a viable option for fired workers still seeking reinstatement.

Please spread the word to anyone you know who might have been impacted by New York City’s vaccine mandates, because the city is not doing any serious outreach about this option to anyone.

This reinstatement process does not end CHD-backed litigation. We continue to stand by these brave workers in multiple lawsuits, one of which is currently asking the U.S. Supreme Court to consider hearing the case. You can read about that in a recent report published in The Defender.

To get the most up-to-date information on this topic as new information breaks, follow Teachers for Choice on Substack. TFC has been at the forefront of advocacy work related to fired unvaccinated workers, and is run by Michael Kane, who is himself a fired unvaccinated teacher.

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Children's Health Defense Team