from Michael Kane
10-21-21
For those NYC DOE employees currently on unpaid leave due to declining covid vaccination who do not want to give up your rights to sue the DOE, you cannot sign the waiver that is on the SOLAS system. The waiver is required if you want to keep your healthcare benefits for one year and/or get your CAR days paid back to you. Many have no choice but to sign the wavier because they need these options and I understand this. We all need to survive, we all need to eat.
However, if you are like me you will not be signing this waiver.
I won’t sign because I want to maintain my rights to sue the NYC DOE for blatant violations of my constitutional rights. Because of this I sent the following email to the NYC DOE Chancellor Meisha Porter with my attorney cc’d.
TO BE CLEAR – THIS IS NOT LEGAL ADVICE. I CANNOT GIVE YOU LEGAL ADVICE AS I AM NOT A LAWYER NOR DO I REPRESENT YOU. I AM MERELY SHARING WHAT I AM DOING UNDER THE ADVICE AND GUIDANCE OF MY ATTORNEY BECAUE HUNDREDS OF YOU HAVE BEEN ASKING ME:
***
SUBJECT LINE – Maintaning my rights to sue the NYC DOE
(sent 10-21-21, 4:44pm)
Dear Chancellor Porter:
My name is Michael Kane. I am a NYC DOE Teacher currently forcibly placed onto unpaid leave through action taken by the DOE which was no choice of my own. I filed for a religious exemption to vaccination which was denied even though I have sincerely held religious beliefs. I appealed that decision as being illegal and unconstitutional and my appeal was denied for unconstitutional reasons and through an unconstitutional and openly discriminatory process applied by the NYC DOE in violation of my First Amendment rights. I am currently suing NYC over this in a case known as KANE vs DE BLASIO.
I have not quit, resigned or retired and I will not be quitting, resigning or retiring. It is the NYC DOE that has forced me onto unpaid leave. I am ready, willing and able to return to my teaching position however you are preventing me from doing so by forcibly keeping me on unpaid leave.
Since NYC DOE has illegally denied my constitutional rights and refuses to pay or employ me, your decisions are denying me the most fundamental constitutional right of all – that to life itself. Without income I can’t pay my bills or feed myself nor my family. I cannot violate my sincerely held religious beliefs in order to get a paycheck. Nor can I waive my right to enforce my religious rights by signing your waiver of my right to sue to get benefits. Therefore I am seeking other employment because the NYC DOE under your leadership leaves me no other choice.
Nevertheless, I repeat one last time; I am ready, willing and able to return to my teaching position in the NYC DOE. I have not quit, I have not resigned, I am not retiring. You have constructively discharged me.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely;
Michael Kane
Teachers For Choice 
Thank you for this! I’m with you all the way! So to be clear, you aren’t choosing the “resign” option either, right?… thank you for all you are doing Michael!!!
On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 4:45 PM NY Teachers For Choice wrote:
> New York Teacher posted: ” from Michael Kane For those NYC DOE employees > currently on unpaid leave due to declining covid vaccination who do not > want to give up your rights to sue the DOE, you cannot sign the waiver that > is on the SOLAS system. The waiver is required if you” >
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No I am not choosing ANY option on SOLAS.
If I resign I am stating I am LEAVING the NYC DOE. That is not what happened. I have not left anything. NYC DOE has locked the door on me. There is a word for that; it used to be called FIRED.
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On Thu, Oct 21, 2021 at 4:45 PM NY Teachers For Choice wrote:
> New York Teacher posted: ” from Michael Kane For those NYC DOE employees > currently on unpaid leave due to declining covid vaccination who do not > want to give up your rights to sue the DOE, you cannot sign the waiver that > is on the SOLAS system. The waiver is required if you” >
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Please clarify what a teacher’s DOE status becomes if they don’t sign the waiver: Are they then still on unpaid leave (but now without health benefits)? Or are they now in some other status with the DOE?
Thanks!
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I don’t know what my status becomes and I don’t care.
The NYC DOE has perpetrated an unbelievably fraudulent and unconstitutional crime upon me and thousands like me. I am taking this till the very end. The ONLY THING I care about is that NYC DOE knows I did not quit, I did not resign, I did not retire. I am ready, willing and able to go back to my job and work. Right now.
Whatever happens to my “status” is in THEIR court, their hands to decide. I am not “leaving.” I never left. They locked the door on me. That used to be called FIRED.
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According to the arbitration order, if we don’t choose either option, starting December 1,2021, the DOE will seek to separate us. In other words, our status would be unemployed because we would be fired.
That’s my understanding. I have read a re-read this order to make sure I understand and have not missed anything.
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But you maintain your right to sue the NYC DOE in this situation.
That is paramount for me. I know it is not important for all, but for me it is.
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Thank you, Elizabeth! Yes, it does look like the “individual terminations” begin on Dec. 1.
Now my new question is (not specifically only for Elizabeth, but for anyone who knows the answer here):
***On what date (if one doesn’t sign the waiver of the right to sue) do the health benefits stop being in effect?***
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I have practical reasons for wanting to know what my DOE status would be if I do not sign the waiver:
1) If I’m still on unpaid leave, would the DOE still try to keep me from working at another job, claiming I’m “employed” by them?
2) If I’m fired, I’d want a letter stating/admitting that from the DOE. (Maybe then I can apply for unemployment, and when/if I’m denied unemployment benefits, I can sue the DOE — and maybe the UFT — over that, perhaps.)
3) Also, I am eligible to retire (but don’t want to yet). I’d need to find out whether being fired precludes my getting my retirement benefits.
4) ALSO: I’d want to sue the DOE for taking away my health benefits if I don’t sign a waiver, b/c of the unconstitutionality of making such a condition for getting health benefits. But if I’m fired, the DOE can claim that my suit is moot. But if I’m on unpaid leave, I’m still employed and can sue as an aggrieved employee.
———-
So, with due respect to how you feel and what you call it, I am not asking for a philosophical or attitudinal answer here; I am seeking a practical/official answer, for practical reasons.
Does anyone know the answer here?
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As you can see, I am doing quite a bit in regards to this issue. Basically every free moment I have goes into this. Because of that I do not investigate every issue and question. It would be helpful for you to investigate and post your findings in these replies.
All the best
mk
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I love it!
Constructively discharged
I’m a federal worker in NJ and have been following the NY DOE situation.
Hoping and praying for a break for you!
I am also filling for a religious, and trying for medical as well pending my Drs getting on board, most likely not. The exemption forms with DoD and the multiple emails and guidance is a smoke and mirrors show to distract and frustrate us as we get closer to our 8 Nov deadline for submission.
Keep being a courageous leader! Hopefully you will get the job offers you need to acquire employment and sustain you until the nonsense is over
Cj
On Thu, Oct 21, 2021, 4:45 PM NY Teachers For Choice wrote:
> New York Teacher posted: ” from Michael Kane For those NYC DOE employees > currently on unpaid leave due to declining covid vaccination who do not > want to give up your rights to sue the DOE, you cannot sign the waiver that > is on the SOLAS system. The waiver is required if you” >
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Thank you, MK! All you are doing is VERY MUCH appreciated!
I am asking my questions here — with the hope that a colleague or two will have answers. The DOE and the UFT do not return phone calls, no matter how many messages I leave. There’s no website with a chat feature to get answers either. So there’s really no source of reliable answers other than through the grapevine and the rumor mill. (PS: How do we sue the UFT?) The corruption is staggering and the silence is deafening!
So this is no complaint about you, MK — absolutely not! Just the opposite!
Wthout answers to our perfectly good questions, we have to make blind decisions…. Very crazy and callous, indeed!
(I suspect that there ARE no answers, since the DOE and UFT seem to be making this all up as they go along, always in a way to disfavor the teachers and other DOE staff.)
TY in advance for any answers to my above questions to my fellow (unpaid!) DOE workers.
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Yes NYC DOE and UFT are basically useless right now.
WE all need to do what is best for us and our families right now. For me, that means maintaining my right to sue the NYC DOE and de Blasio even if that means I lose my CAR day, lose my medical benefits, and possibly get a blemish on my record as having been “fired” or “insubordinate” or however they end up framing this.
Not everyone see it the same as me, and that is just fine.
I wish I had more info than this right now
All the best and good luck to all
STAY TUNED to the website for updates on KANE vs DE BLASIO coming next week (Oct 25th and beyond)
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