Mecklenburg County fires 16 government workers for noncompliance with COVID protocols
Mecklenburg County has fired 16 employees for noncompliance with its COVID-19 protocols, the county said Wednesday.
As of Sept. 17, more than 350 Mecklenburg County government employees had been suspended for failing to comply with the requirements.
All county employees are required to either provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19 or provide weekly proof of testing.
Any unvaccinated employee who misses the weekly deadline to submit testing proof will be put on unpaid suspension immediately, according to county officials. And any employee who is noncompliant for two consecutive weeks will be suspended.
The Sept. 17 tally included 322 employees suspended from Mecklenburg County departments, except for the Sheriff’s Office and Charlotte Mecklenburg Library — both agencies have separate human resources offices. At the time, 34 library employees and no Sheriff’s Office employees had been suspended.
Just 16 employees — including five full-time workers — have been fired as of Wednesday, according to county spokeswoman Tammy Thompson.
Thompson did not provide a breakdown of firings by county agency.
As of Wednesday, there have been no firings or suspensions of Sheriff’s Office employees for noncompliance with the COVID-19 protocols, spokeswoman Janet Parker told the Observer in an email. And no library employees were on suspension for noncompliance as of Wednesday, library spokeswoman Asha Ellison told the Observer in an email.
County Manager Dena Diorio previously calleEd the rollout of the program “a little bumpy.”
Nearly 74% of county employees were vaccinated as of Sept. 17, according to the county.
Other COVID firings
The Mecklenburg news comes just days after one of Charlotte’s major hospital systems, Novant Health, said it had fired nearly 200 employees for failing to comply with its vaccination requirement.
More than 99% of Novant Health’s 35,000-plus employees are now compliant with the vaccine mandate, including employees who have submitted an approved religious or medical exemption.
Novant workers who have gotten their first vaccine of a two-dose shot, either Pfizer or Moderna, have until Oct. 15 to get the second dose.
Charlotte’s largest hospital system, Atrium Health, also requires all employees to get vaccinated or apply for an approved medical or religious exemption. Atrium’s deadline for employees is Oct. 31.
This story was originally published September 29, 2021 at 12:27 PM.
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