Novant Health, a North Carolina-based health care system, has suspended and may terminate about 375 employees who haven’t complied with the company’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy.
The policy says employees must have received at least one dose of COVID vaccine by now, or have been granted a religious or medical exemption, the company said in a news release.
The 375 out-of-compliance workers at 15 hospitals and 800 clinics and hundreds of outpatient facilities “are not able to report to work,” the news release said.
“They will have an opportunity to comply over a five-day, unpaid suspension period. If a team member remains non-compliant after this suspension period, he or she will have their employment with Novant Health terminated,” the release said.
The company said 98.6% of more than 35,000 employees complied with the company’s vaccine policy. Workers getting two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech or Moderna vaccines must have their second dose by Oct. 15 to comply.
Novant announced its vaccination policy earlier this summer. Workers granted exemptions must wear N95 face masks and undergo weekly testing, the company said.
Other medical workers have left their jobs because their employers’ vaccine mandates.
CNN reported that at least 125 part-time employees at Indiana University Health system left their jobs for not complying with the vaccine requirements.
President Joe Biden said earlier this month that health care workers at facilities receiving Medicare funding must be vaccinated, CNN reported.
Sources:
Novant Health. “Novant Health update on mandatory COVID-19 vaccination program for employees”
CNN: “More than 100 part-timers at Indiana University Health left jobless for refusing Covid-19 vaccine”
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