Kanishka Sharma

(Reuters) – The New York City Police Union filed a suit on Monday in opposition to the Mayor Bill de Blasio’s mandate that municipal workers be vaccinated.

On Wednesday, the mayor ordered city workers to produce proof of COVID-19 vaccination or face being placed on unpaid leaves. This angered the union.

On Twitter, the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York stated (NYSE:) it had filed suit at the state Supreme Court. To stop the suit from progressing, it asked for a temporary order of restraining to be granted by the court.

Twitter user union admonished that the NYPD has not yet provided any written guidance regarding how this mandate should be applied.

This Friday, the mayor gave employees until 5 pm to provide proof that they had been inoculated to their supervisors. The mayor stated that more than 70% of 160,000 New York City employees, which includes a comparable percentage working in the police department have received at least one dose.

Patrick Lynch is the President of the Police Benevolent Association. He represents the city’s 50,000 active officers and retirees.

De Blasio mentioned overtime and redeployments in contingency plans in case a large number of officers or other city employees refuse to follow the mandate.

Schools, municipalities and other authorities across the nation are struggling to comply with vaccination and masking requirements. Since the spike in cases of COVID-19 during summer, the number has been steadily declining.

De Blasio stated that employees won’t be able to have regular tests instead of receiving the vaccine. However, he said the city would still allow religious and medical exemptions.