NYC Lawyer Fired After Questioning Mayor Eric Adams on Mask Mandate for Toddlers

NYC Mayor Eric Adams speaks during a news conference at a Manhattan subway station where the two politicians announced a new plan to fight homelessness on Jan. 6, 2022. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A New York City attorney was fired from her law department job on Monday after she reportedly had misrepresented herself as a journalist in order to question Mayor Eric Adams on a mask mandate for children aged 2 to 4.

Daniela Jampel, who had worked as an assistant corporation counsel at the NYC Law Department since early 2016, was fired just hours after attending a City Hall press briefing to ask Adams when he would “unmask our toddlers.”

Jampel said she is unclear why the department fired her, where she had worked for six years on complex personal injury actions against the city and police misconduct matters, according to her LinkedIn profile.

“You will have to ask the Law Department why they fired me, they did not feel the need to tell me their reasoning and instead felt it more appropriate to disparage me in the press,” she said in an email to Reuters.

On Monday, Jampel attended a news conference in the City Hall building in Lower Manhattan, where she questioned Adams about what “the irreparable harm to children age 2 to 4” is when they take off their masks.

“Three weeks ago, you told parents to trust you that you would unmask our toddlers,” she told the mayor. “You stood right here, and you said that the masks would come off April 4. That has not happened.”

Jampel has been a leading vocal advocate for keeping schools open and for ending mask mandates for young children.

Adams, who did not provide a clear answer to Jampel’s question on the harm it would bring if children aged 2 to 4 remove their masks, admitted to making a previous prediction that he would be eliminating the mask mandate for toddler’s on Monday.

“I also stated if we see an uptick, we will come back and make the announcement of what we’re going to do. We’re going to pivot and shift as COVID is pivot and shifting,” he added. “There’s a new variant. The numbers are increasing. We are going to move at the right pace, and that’s the role I must do.”

The Democratic mayor announced on April 1 that a mask mandate for children under 5 in schools and daycare centers would remain in effect because of rising cases.

Jampel’s termination was confirmed by a law department spokesman, who said the decision to fire her was made prior to her questioning the mayor and due to “troubling claims” she had made about her job for the agency.

“We hold all of our employees to the highest professional standards. In public statements, Ms. Jampel has made troubling claims about her work for the city Law Department. Based on those statements, the decision had been made to terminate her prior to today,” the spokesman told The New York Post.

“Today’s events, however, which include her decision to lie to City Hall staff and state she was a journalist at a press conference, demonstrate a disturbing lack of judgment and integrity. As of today, she is no longer an employee of the Law Department,” he added.

The spokesman appeared to be referencing a post on social media that Jampel has since deleted that said as an attorney for the city she had “represented cops who lie in court, teachers who molest children, prison guards who beat inmates.”

“It is a job I have done proudly. Until tonight. Fighting to keep masks on toddlers is shameful. I am ashamed of my office,” it added.

Jampel is a co-founder of the advocacy group #KeepNYCSchoolsOpen, which opposed continuing closures of the city’s public schools after the early months of the pandemic.

From NTD News