A long-time waitress at Yankee Stadium is suing New York City Mayor Eric Adams for his “despicable” vax exemption allowing millionaire athletes and performers to return to work without worrying about a vaccine mandate. Yet, at the same time, regular New Yorkers continue to face forced vaccination or firings.
Waitress Virginia Alleyne, 57, filed her suit with the Manhattan Supreme Court alleging that Adams’ “arbitrary and capricious” policy is an “abuse of discretion,” the New York Post reported.
“For him to allow millionaires to work and to punish the workers who are the lifeblood of this city is just horrendous,” the waitress told the Post.
“So many workers have lost their jobs, yet he’s rewarding the millionaires because he doesn’t want them coming after him,” she added. “We are being punished by a blatant and egregious double standard.”
After taking office this year, Adams reversed the previous mayor’s vaccine mandate for athletes and performers, claiming that his move was “leveling the playing field for New Yorkers and supporting local businesses and performance venues across the city.”
The single mother says that she was thrown off the job because she is unvaccinated, yet all these millionaire entertainers and athletes are no longer held to that standard.
Yankee Stadium on Opening Day 2022 (Mike Stobe/Getty Images)
Alleyne, who told the paper she does not want to get the vax for religious reasons, called the mayor’s policy “despicable” for its hypocrisy.
The mother of an autistic 15-year-old son, Alleyne, continued, saying, “I was literally begging for my job and I knew I am not going to be able to take care of my son.
“I’ve been struggling. I can barely make ends meet,” Alleyne exclaimed. “Everybody else folded. Everyone chose to make money. I chose to starve because of the principle.”
“Thousands of firemen, policemen, teachers, sanitation workers, restaurant workers and other private sector workers have been fired as a result of this mandate,” Alleyne’s filing insists. “Has the mayor asked the aforementioned terminated NYC employees if they care if the Nets, Knicks, Yankees or Mets are at a competitive disadvantage when they can no longer support their families?”
The lawsuit was filed by New York City attorney James Mermigis, who noted in a Thursday statement that, “Today is opening day. Everyone will be back at Yankee stadium except my client. Fifty thousand fans will be cheering in Yankee Stadium without regard to vaccination status, but my client remains unemployed.”
The mayor’s office maintains that Adams has the authority to exempt athletes from the vax while continuing to demand that everyday workers be vaccinated.
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