New York City’s City Hall confirmed on Monday that 1,430 municipal workers were fired after refusing to comply with its COVID-19 vaccine mandate requirement.
Nearly 1,000 city workers on unpaid leave took the shot last week to avoid losing their jobs.
“Our goal was always to vaccinate, not terminate, and city workers stepped up and met the goal placed before them,” Democratic Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement, according to Politico.
“Out of all the new city employees who received notices two weeks ago, only two who worked last week are no longer employed by the city. I’m grateful to all the city workers who continue to serve New Yorkers and ‘Get Stuff Done’ for the greatest city in the world,” he added.
While the report noted the terminations represent less than one percent of the city’s workforce, the losses have taken a toll on the city. The city’s Department of Education lost the most workers, with 914 staff members losing their jobs over the mandate.
State Assemblyman Clyde Vanel says the state, and specifically, New York City, can’t handle the cost of losing any workers.
“We want to make sure that New York is a place that you want to live, you want to go to school here, we want you to go to school here, we want you to work here, we want you to stay here – I hope that this Mayor will do the right thing, I believe that he will,” Vanel said.
First responders have also been impacted in the city.
“Police Benevolent Association, the city’s largest police union, said less than 50 of its members had received notices they faced termination,” according to a report last week.
It is unclear how many first responders and other city workers left employment prior to termination due to the mandate.
The New York Times reported last week, “The loss of roughly 3,000 workers would represent less than 1 percent of the city’s work force, but is still believed to be the largest worker reduction in the nation in response to a vaccine mandate. Another roughly 1,000 new city employees must show proof of two doses by Friday or they could also be fired.”
“Besides the 3,000 workers that could be fired, another 9,000 city workers are also unvaccinated, but are seeking exemptions, or working with unions to avoid terminations,” the outlet added. “In all, about 13,000 workers have applied for exemptions, which are known as reasonable accommodations, and 54 percent of those requests have been processed so far, according to city officials. About 2,100 were approved and 4,910 were denied.”
The Daily Wire reported last week that 3,000 workers in the city faced termination over the mandate:
On Monday, agencies in the city were informed that people who were hired after the August date had until Friday to provide evidence they had gotten a second dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. As of the end of last month, around 3,000 workers were on unpaid leave because they were not vaccinated. They were informed that they would be terminated on Friday if they did not get the vaccine.
“We are not firing them,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams (D) said at a news conference on Thursday. “People are quitting.”
He said that “the responsibility is clear” that if someone is hired to work for New York City, he or she must be vaccinated.
“If you are not following the rules, you are making that decision,” he said. “I want them to stay,” the mayor added. “I want them to be employees of the city. But they have to follow the rules that were put in place before my administration.”
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