Federal Court Rules Against New York Firefighters and EMS Workers in Garland v. FDNY Appeal

A three-judge panel at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower court decision in Garland v. FDNY today, rejecting the plaintiffs-appellants' federal due process claims.

In a summary order that was a letdown for the plaintiffs-appellants and their attorney Austin Graff, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed a lower court decision against them in Garland et al. v. New York City Fire Deparment et al. today.

The federal proposed class action lawsuit was brought by 86 current and former FDNY employees who were put on leave without pay (LWOP) and under New York City’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for municipal workers.

At a January 9 hearing where attorneys made oral arguments, the three-judge appeals court panel gave the Garland plaintiffs-appellants reason to be optimistic by seriously engaging Graff’s due process arguments in the courtroom.

But in the end, they rejected those arguments. Here’s what they had to say: