Ottawa's Bruyere Continuing Care suspends 119 unvaccinated employees
More than 100 employees at Ottawa's Bruyère health care facilities are now on unpaid leave for failing to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
As of Friday, 91 per cent of the 2,298 employees at Bruyère are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while an additional three per cent of employees are "on track" to being fully vaccinated in the coming days.
In August, Bruyère announced that all employees must be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by Oct. 15.
"A small percentage of staff have chosen not to comply with our mandatory vaccine policy," said Bruyère in a statement on its website.
"We remain hopeful that they will choose to get the vaccine."
Bruyère says 119 employees who choose not to get vaccinated are now on unpaid leave. The employees include 50 full-time and part-time staff and 69 casual employees.
"We will continue to work with these team members and hope all of them will choose to get vaccinated so they can resume working at Bruyère," said Bruyère.
"For the few who are choosing to end their employment at Bruyère, we are thankful for their contribution to the organization to date and wish them all the best."
One day after employees were notified they were being suspended without pay, 12 employees said they would now get vaccinated.
"Since the letters were issued to leaders yesterday, I'm pleased to say that number 119 has been reduced by 12 overnight," said Rebecca Officer, vice-president of Human Resources, Organizational Culture and Development at Bruyere.
"We're hopeful we'll continue to go in the right direction."
Officer told Newstalk 580 CFRA's Ottawa Now with guest host Graham Richardson that employees will be able to return to work with "confirmation that they are getting vaccinated."
Bruyère provides hospital programs specializing in rehabilitation and complex care, family health teams, long-term care homes and in supportive and independent living for older adults.
Two-hundred and three employees at Bruyère, CHEO and the Queensway Carleton Hospital have been or will be placed on unpaid leave for failing to comply with COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
Poilievre unrepentant over calling Trudeau 'wacko' as his MPs say Speaker should resign
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confirms his party will support the Liberals' federal budget
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says his party will support the federal budget, ending any speculation that the party could pull out of its deal with the minority Liberal government.
Dental care program accepting claims for 1 million seniors
Citizens' Services Minister Terry Beech says 1,200 seniors have already visited a dentist and had their claims processed by the federal government's new dental care plan.