Kaiser Permanente suspends more than 2,200 workers for ignoring vaccine mandate
Employees will have until Dec. 1 to get the vaccine or they could be fired.
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Kaiser Permanente has suspended more than 2,200 employees who have not yet gotten vaccinated, according to reports.
The workers, who make up between 1% and 2% of the health care company’s nationwide workforce, have been placed on unpaid administrative leave, according to FOX 2 in the Bay Area.
The company announced the vaccine mandate in August and said this week that employees will have until Dec. 1 to get the vaccine or they could lose their jobs.
Kaiser said when it announced the mandate 78% of employees had been vaccinated and it has risen to more than 92% since the beginning of October. "The number continues to grow," the company said in a statement, according to KABC in Los Angeles.
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It added that just over 2,200 employees had not responded to the requirement by Oct. 4 and were placed on leave, FOX 2 reported.
A Kaiser Permanente office in Hollywood, California, is seen Jan. 27, 2021. (Getty Images / Getty Images)
"This number is declining daily, and as employees respond they may return to work," the statement said, KABC of Los Angeles reported. "We hope none of our employees will choose to leave their jobs rather than be vaccinated, but we won't know with certainty until then. We will continue to work with this group of employees to allay concerns and educate them about the vaccines, their benefits, and risks.
Kaiser is the country’s largest nonprofit health care company, according to KPIX-TV in the Bay Area.
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The company is based in California and has locations in Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Maryland, Oregon, Virginia, Washington state and Washington, D.C.