Health & Fitness
Novant Health Suspends 375 Employees For Not Getting Vaccinated
The healthcare system required its more than 35,000 employees to have at least one vaccine dose by Sept. 15, and 98.6 percent have complied.
WINSTON-SALEM, NC — Novant Health, one of the leading healthcare providers in Charlotte and the state of North Carolina, has suspended 375 employees for failing to comply with the healthcare system's COVID-19 vaccination mandate, the company announced Tuesday.
Winston-Salem-based Novant required its over 35,000 employees to have the Johnson & Johnson vaccine or at least one dose of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccines by Sept. 15, unless they had an approved medical or religious exemption. Employees must receive a second dose by Oct. 15.
According to the Winston-Salem Journal, Novant initially announced its mandatory vaccination policy on July 22, saying employees were required to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 15. In August, Novant amended the requirement, and said employees only needed to be partially vaccinated by Sept. 15.
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But those who have not complied with the Sept. 15 deadline - which is 1.4 percent of the company's overall workforce- have been given a five-day, unpaid suspension with the option of returning once they have completed the mandate, Novant announced.
"If a team member remains non-compliant after this suspension period, he or she will have their employment with Novant Health terminated," the company said in a release.
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In the release, Novant pointed out that 98.6 percent of its employees are compliant with the mandatory COVID-19 vaccination program.
The healthcare system also said that employees with approved medical or religious vaccine exemptions will be subject to weekly COVID-19 tests and must wear N95 respirator masks or other PPE when working at Novant facilities.
Novant has 15 hospitals and 800 clinics and outpatient facilities in the state, and the company did not reveal how many of its suspended employees are from the Charlotte area, according to the Observer.
Atrium Health, one of the state's other leading healthcare systems with 70,000 employees across 40 hospitals, is requiring its employees to be fully vaccinated, or apply for an exemption, by Oct. 31, according to Fierce Healthcare.com
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