New York City Lays Off 1,430 Unvaccinated City Workers

The US city of New York has fired 1,430 employees for failing to comply with vaccination obligations. Although it concerns less than 1 percent of all city employees, it would be the largest collective layoff in the United States due to the corona measures.

New York City has fired 1,430 of its city employees in the United States, Mayor Eric Adams has reported. The dismissed workers do not comply with the vaccination obligation announced earlier in October. This would be the largest collective layoff in the United States taken as part of the corona measures. However, it should be noted that the number of dismissed employees is less than 1 percent of the total staff.

Adam’s predecessor, Bill de Blasio, had already announced in October 2021 that there would be a mandatory vaccination for city employees. Everyone had enough time to comply with this measure. The current mayor says he is happy that 370,000 people have been vaccinated before the deadline. Now about 95 percent have had at least 1 dose of the vaccine, an 84 percent increase since the requirement was announced.

About 900 dismissed employees came from education, 100 worked in the housing service, and 36 in the police.

The vaccination obligation also provoked protests from staff. As a result, even more, city workers could be fired. About 9,000 workers have not yet been vaccinated but are still trying to get an exemption or are working with a union to avoid layoffs.