Despite this, government said around 98.6% of city's active workers already fully immunized
The City of Toronto has terminated the employment of 461 workers after they failed to comply with the government's vaccine mandate deadline, which took effect on January 2.
"These employees had been suspended without pay and not scheduled to work and, therefore, not factored into current staffing levels," said the city government in a statement.
There are also 37 employees who are currently on temporary leave while waiting for the decision on their accommodation requests, according to the city government. Additionally, there are 248 partially vaccinated employees who will meet their managers and union representative starting this week. According to the city government, if said staff members remain just partially vaccinated by the meeting, then they could be terminated on the same day.
"Consideration will be given to employees who have an appointment booked for their second dose," the government said.
Read more: Toronto to bring back fully vaccinated staff – despite Omicron threat
Despite these numbers, the Toronto government said around 98.6% of their active workers is already vaccinated, which is equivalent to 32,478 active employees across all City divisions.
"I am extremely proud of the Toronto Public Service for demonstrating their leadership once again and responding to the call to get vaccinated," said city manager Chris Murray. “With the rapid increase in COVID-19 cases across the city, driven by the Omicron variant, it is good to know the City’s employees are doing all they can to protect each other and the people of Toronto.”
The city's vaccine mandate was announced back in August last year, with the deadline extended until this year to give more employees time to get educated and get the jabs. Toronto reported 3,056 new COVID-19 cases on January 5, raising the city's total caseload to 237,536, according to its public health office.
