Winston-Salem, N.C.-based Novant Health has placed workers on an unpaid five-day suspension for not complying with the system's mandatory COVID-19 vaccination program, according to a Sept. 21 news release.
The health system said about 375 employees — at 15 hospitals, 800 clinics and hundreds of outpatient facilities — have been suspended, and if they remain noncompliant after the suspension, they will be fired. Workers are considered compliant if they have received at least one shot or a medical or religious exemption. Those who have started a two-shot series have until Oct. 15 to get their second dose and remain in compliance.
As of Sept. 21, 98.6 percent of more than 35,000 employees were compliant, Novant Health stated.