Kaiser Permanente puts 2,200 unvaccinated employees on unpaid leave nationwide

Kaiser Permanente, one of the largest healthcare systems in the United States, has placed approximately 2,200 unvaccinated employees on unpaid leave across the country due to the company’s COVID-19 vaccination policy.

Employees who have been suspended represent more than 1% of the company’s workforce, with the company employing around 216,000 people nationwide. They have until Dec. 1 to get vaccinated in order to return to work, the company said in an Oct.5 statement.

“Over 92% of our employees have been vaccinated – and the number continues to rise,” Kaiser said, adding that as of Oct. 4, employees who “had not met our vaccine requirements” had been placed on administrative leave without pay.

“We hope that none of our employees choose to quit their jobs rather than get vaccinated, but we won’t know for sure until then,” the Oakland, Calif., Based company said. “We will continue to work with this group of employees to allay concerns and educate them about vaccines, their benefits and risks. “

Several other major hospital systems have issued similar guidelines in recent days.

On October 4, New York-based Northwell Health announced it had laid off 1,400 workers because they had not received the COVID-19 vaccine, while a warrant issued by the New York governor’s office York came into effect for healthcare workers.

California frontline health workers staged simultaneous protests against the government’s mandatory vaccination order at Kaiser Permanente-Riverside Medical Center in Riverside, Calif. On August 21, 2021 (Linda Jiang / The Epoch Times)

“Northwell believes that having a fully immunized workforce is an important step in our duty to protect the health and safety of our staff, patients and the communities we serve,” the system said. health. “This allows us to continue to provide exceptional care across all of our facilities, without disruption, and to remain open and fully operational. “

Although he “regrets losing an employee in such circumstances”, Northwell argued that he owed it “to our staff, our patients and the communities we serve to be 100% vaccinated against COVID-19 “.

A hospital system that serves four states in the southeastern United States said in late September it had laid off more than 100 employees during its vaccination tenure.

“They will have the opportunity to comply during a five-day unpaid suspension period,” North Carolina-based Novant Health said, announcing 175 workers had been laid off. “If a team member remains non-compliant after this period of suspension, their employment with Novant Health will be terminated. “

At United Airlines, about 96 percent of employees have been vaccinated as part of a warrant. About 3% have requested an exemption and less than 1% will be made redundant, the company said.

Kaiser Permanente officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Epoch Times.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.