A judge has reinstated a Roswell Park Comprehensive Care Center nurse who was fired for refusing to be vaccinated for Covid-19, and in so doing cast a disapproving look at how public officials handled the pandemic.
An arbitrator’s January decision upholding Wendy Cooper’s firing was “irrational, violative of public policy and contrary to the interests of justice,” State Supreme Court Justice Emilio Colaiacovo ruled.
The judge directed Roswell Park to negotiate over her retroactive pay and benefits.
Colaiacovo called the issue before him narrow: Did the arbitrator rationally decide Cooper’s case? But his written decision offered a wider criticism of how some public officials overstepped their bounds while others ceded their powers to others amid the pandemic.
“Ms. Cooper is an unfortunate victim in the wake of excesses exhibited by governors, administrators, legislatures, and yes, even the judiciary,” Colaiacovo wrote in his decision. “All too frequently did critical thinking and the exercise of personal liberties expire at the altar of false righteousness, fear and authority.”
Roswell Park declined to comment but confirmed it will appeal Colaiacovo’s decision.
Nearly 36,800 health care employees in New York – about 3.5% of the state’s health care workforce – lost their jobs, resigned, retired or were furloughed due to being unvaccinated against Covid-19, according to data released by the state in late April 2022, the most recent figures available. That included several hundred, if not thousands, of employees across Western New York.
Roswell Park suspended Cooper and took steps to fire her in late 2021, saying it had no other choice at the time given the state Health Department’s Covid-19 vaccine mandate for health care workers. The vaccine requirement was controversial when it went into effect in fall 2021, and it triggered lawsuits across the state from those who resisted vaccination even at the risk…
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