New York state court system administrators have set a Monday deadline for judges and non-judicial employees to get vaccinated. CSEA, which represents about 5,800 non-judicial employees in the system, is asking a state Supreme Court to prohibit the state court system from implementing the mandatory vaccination policy.

Court employees across New York continue to regularly test positive for the deadly virus. Over the last week, the court system reported that dozens of employees had tested positive for the virus.

Nationwide, vaccination mandates have morphed into another issue on the battleground of coronavirus politics. Legal action has sprung up in other U.S. states over mandates.

About 77 percent of the state court system's 15,600-person workforce have reported being vaccinated as of Tuesday. That leaves about 3,500 employees who have either yet to roll up their sleeves for the life-saving vaccine or have not confirmed their vaccination status, according to court system numbers.

Among non-judicial employees, the reported vaccination rate is 76 percent. That same figure is at 94 percent among judges as of Tuesday, according to the system's data.

A memorandum from court officials warns that continued failure to comply with the policy could lead to termination. It said workers who are not compliant are banned from reporting to work.

The document also outlined how workers would go about seeking a religious or medical exemption.

The state court system has been escalating its efforts to get people vaccinated. The court system previously announced plans for judges and court workers to either get vaccinated or undergo regular coronavirus testing.

Last month, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore signaled that there would be a vaccination mandate amid news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave full approval to the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine. 

In the lawsuit filed Wednesday, CSEA argues the mandate "irreversibly violates employees' bodily autonomy."

The union has also argued that the mandatory vaccination policy amounts to a "new work rule" that changes the conditions and terms of employment for workers represented by the union.

Lucian Chalfen, a state court system spokesman, issued a statement saying the pandemic calls for "adaptive thinking."

He said the system's mandate "mirrors what many other institutions in both the public and private sector are doing to blunt the effects of the virus."

Meanwhile, hospital security personnel sued Gov. Kathy Hochul and outgoing state Health Commissioner Howard Zucker in federal court over a separate vaccine mandate for hospitals and nursing home employees.

The lawsuit, filed in the federal Northern District of New York on Wednesday, argues the requirement pressures the security personnel "into accepting unwanted medical care in violation of their constitutional right to equal protection, privacy, bodily autonomy, personal liberty, and due process."

The complaint asks the court to declare the mandate unconstitutional.