John Macari struggled to find work after he lost his job as a lieutenant with the NYPD in early 2022 over his refusal to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

After he opted to retire early instead of taking the shot, Macari moved his family from Staten Island to Florida and started a transportation business. He also launched a podcast, “New York’s Finest: Retired and Unfiltered,” which eventually gained enough of a following to allow him to focus on it full time.

Now, Macari is one of nearly 2,000 city workers who were either fired or left their jobs over the 2021 mandate who could have the opportunity to get their old jobs back after the Adams administration announced a tentative plan to reinstate them. Some of those workers will be speaking at a public hearing on the proposal being held by the Department of Citywide Administrative Services Wednesday.

Macari, who had 18 years on the job when he left, said he doesn’t regret his decision to refuse the vaccine. But he dreams of coming back, even if it means splitting his time between New York and Florida, where he has two children in school.

“I would ideally like to finish my career up,” Macari said. “I would like to go out on my own terms.”

Gothamist spoke to six former city workers who were fired or left over the mandate and have yet to return. Some have moved out of state or found other jobs. Others said they have lingering resentment toward the city because they went into debt or even lost their homes over their refusal to get vaccinated.

None said they regretted their decisions not to comply with the mandate, which was lifted in 2023, despite the ramifications. And some said they would consider coming back — but only under the right conditions.

George Garvey, a former sanitation worker who now works at a sheet metal company, said he would only want to come back if the vaccine mandate was “struck down in court once and for all so no one ever gets kneecapped again like we did.”

But others said they would return if they could get their seniority or tenure back and be assured they wouldn’t have to sign away their rights to legal action. Some city workers who lost their jobs over the mandate are still seeking backpay through ongoing litigation with the city.

The Department of Citywide Administrative Services did not comment on advocates’ claims that such waivers have been required for returning city workers in the past. But City Hall told Gothamist they would not be required this time around. The rules around reinstatement are still being finalized by the department, however, and must ultimately be approved by the state.

The proposal from the department to offer these workers a path back into the fold comes at a time when a variety of municipal workers are in demand: The city is struggling to meet its target headcount for police officers and is preparing to hire thousands of teachers to comply with new staffing laws.

But for some of those who left, the decision to return to work for the city is not an easy one.

And while Mayor Eric Adams says it’s time to welcome employees like Macari back, not everyone agrees.

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani hasn’t commented on the plan announced this month, but said on Macari’s podcast in April that he worries that reinstating workers who refused to comply with a public health mandate during a pandemic sets a bad precedent.

“My concern comes from the likelihood that we could be in a new pandemic and the necessity of following the public health guidance that we put forward,” Mamdani said on the podcast.

City workers who refused the shots gave various reasons for doing so. Some cited medical or religious reasons or concerns that the COVID-19 shots were developed too quickly. Some said they were wary of vaccines more broadly and had only become more skeptical since the pandemic.

The city’s vaccine mandate helped boost immunization rates at a time when the city was reeling from thousands of COVID deaths and officials were concerned that new waves of infections could put pressure on local hospitals. COVID vaccines have been shown to reduce the risk of severe disease and hospitalization. Major medical groups and New York health officials currently recommend vaccination against COVID-19 for those over 6 months old.

Denis Nash, a professor of epidemiology at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, said he doesn’t think there’s a contradiction in allowing people to return to work after a public health mandate is lifted — as long as there’s good communication from the outset around expectations.

“There should be a way to do it that doesn't compromise the city government's ability to impose vaccine mandates in the future, should they be needed,” Nash said.

‘My income was zero’

Some of those who left city jobs over the vaccine mandate had a much harder time than Macari.

Alfonso Ventura said he became homeless after losing his job as a school cafeteria worker and ended up in a shelter.

“ My income was zero,” Ventura said.

After more than two years, Ventura said, he was able to move into an apartment with the help of a city rental assistance voucher and now has spotty income through odd jobs.

Yet, Ventura said, he would only return to work for the city if he did not have to apply to get his job back — something that would be required under the Department of Citywide Administrative Services proposal.

“I was right,” Ventura said, expressing indignation that he was treated like a “villain” after first being considered a “hero” for working during the pandemic.

Rachel Maniscalco had a baby at home when she lost her job as a special education teacher on Staten Island over her refusal to get vaccinated, convinced the shots were “poison.” Maniscalco said she was getting a lot of information about the vaccines from “underground” sources online.

“I went into debt to survive,” Maniscalco said. “And my husband and I are crawling out of it little by little.”

She said she eventually got a job working with special needs children at a private school instead and likely wouldn’t go back to work for the city, even though she misses the community at her former public school.

Matthew Connor, a former FDNY firefighter and founder of the group Bravest for Choice, said he is optimistic about the city’s offer, although he’s still waiting to get more details. He said he considers the option to come back without waiving any legal rights a “political middle ground” and has been fighting for state legislation that would offer a similar path to reinstatement.

A bipartisan group of city councilmembers has sponsored a resolution supporting that state legislation.