Political | Process

Nearly 1,000 city workers on unpaid leave took the shot last week to avoid losing their jobs.

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• The workers who were let go fell into two categories: new hires who got their first dose but never submitted proof of their second dose, and staff who were placed on leave without pay and opted out of their health coverage because they refused to get vaccinated.

• The city fired just two workers in the first category and 1,428 employees in the second. Another almost 1,000 city workers in the second category who were on leave without pay chose to get the shot before the termination deadline last week.

“Our goal was always to vaccinate, not terminate, and city workers stepped up and met the goal placed before them,” Mayor Eric Adams said in a statement.

• “Out of all the new city employees who received notices two weeks ago, only two who worked last week are no longer employed by the city.

• I’m grateful to all the city workers who continue to serve New Yorkers and ‘Get Stuff Done’ for the greatest city in the world.”

• The New York City Department of Education lost 914 staffers to the mandate significantly more than any other agency and beyond the anticipated figure of about 700 staffers.

• The employees from the DOE and other agencies have not been working or collecting paychecks since November 2021, but they have been holding on to coveted civil service jobs, according to City Hall.

• “They have not been teaching in schools, patrolling our streets, or maintaining our parks yet they have been taking salary lines away from agencies and stopping the city from hiring individuals who are willing to do the jobs New Yorkers need them to do,” according to City Hall.

• Other agencies that fired staff over the vaccine mandate include the New York City Housing Authority (101 layoffs), Department of Correction (75) and Department of Sanitation (40). About 30 agencies, in total, lost staff.

SOURCE: POLITICO