Restaurants Sue Over NYC Indoor COVID Vaccine Mandate

NEW YORK CITY — A flotilla of restaurants, eateries and fitness establishments filed a lawsuit aiming to torpedo New York City's new proof of vaccination requirement for indoor activities.

The complaint filed Wednesday in Staten Island by the Independent Restaurant Owners Association Rescue, among others, claims Mayor Bill de Blasio's indoor coronavirus vaccine mandate would severely impact their livelihoods.

De Blasio, who officially imposed the mandate Tuesday, brushed off the lawsuit. The city is in a very strong legal position, he said Wednesday during his daily briefing.

"We're in a global pandemic still," he said. "The decisions that have been taken, have been taken with the leadership of our health officials who have been fighting this battle from the beginning. And we know we must get more people vaccinated and strategically focusing on the ways to get more people vaccinated — particularly focusing on young people where there's been a real gap — so we can stop the spread of the Delta variant is mission critical. It is about public health and safety."

Restaurateurs generally greeted the indoor vaccine mandate for patrons and staff — known as the "Key To NYC" program — warily.

And with good reason — eateries often found themselves with whiplash during the pandemic from rapidly changing rules on closures, openings, capacity limits and hours.

Some in the industry, like Andrew Rigie, who heads the powerful NYC Hospitality Alliance, supported the mandate as a way to keep restaurants safely open while the delta variant spreads.

"We support the City’s efforts to get more New Yorkers vaccinated and we are already helping restaurants across the five boroughs comply with the new requirements," he said in a statement. "The City’s outreach needs to target education and training for establishments to implement these policies, as they pose operational and economic challenges for understaffed restaurants, bars, and nightclubs struggling to recover."

And some restaurants even imposed their own vaccination mandates before the city's rule became official.

But other restaurant groups like the Independent Restaurant Owners Association Rescue have been skeptical and vowed to fight the rule.

The mandate took effect Tuesday. Enforcement will begin the week of Sept. 13.