New York Edges Closer to Prepandemic Life, as City Workers Return

The city’s more than 300,000 municipal employees must report to full-time, in-person work on Monday. Many of them are not happy.

On Monday, as New York City students fully return to public schools, a less heralded reopening will also take place: The city’s entire municipal labor force, the largest in the nation, will return to work. Mayor Bill de Blasio has ordered the city’s more than 300,000 employees to report to work five days a week, with no general hybrid or remote option. The move will be closely watched in cities around the nation, as the mayor navigates a thicket of safety procedures. Office workers will have to be vaccinated or submit to weekly testing, and masks will be required in most indoor communal settings. Social distancing will not be required, except where workers are interacting with the public.