New York City is expected to fire up to 4,000 city employees Friday because they have refused to comply with the city government’s vaccine mandate, following through with the vaccine requirement after it drew widespread controversy from labor unions—though the employees represent only a small minority of the city’s total workforce.
Up to 3,000 city workers already on unpaid leave may be terminated, as well as an additional 1,000 newly hired workers who haven’t submitted vaccine documentation, according to Bloomberg, though the exact numbers are still unclear.
Adams said Friday the city would release the exact number of affected employees over the weekend to account for any paperwork delays, but there was an “amazing response” by workers and the city was “encouraged by the numbers,” suggesting many may have gotten vaccinated at the last minute.
Even if 4,000 workers are terminated, that’s only about 1% of the city’s total workforce of 370,000 employees, and is down from 9,000 workers who went on unpaid leave in November when the mandate took effect.
The vaccine mandate does allow for medical and religious exemptions, and the city announced in November it had negotiated with four labor unions to allow their unvaccinated members to remain on unpaid leave with health benefits until June.
Adams said Thursday the city was “not firing [workers]; people are quitting” by choosing not to “follow the rules of getting vaccinated.”
Among the city workers who are affected by the vaccine mandate are teachers, police officers, sanitation workers and firefighters, and Adams said Friday the city would evaluate whether terminated workers should be replaced or if their jobs could be cut.
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