INDIANAPOLIS, IN – Indiana’s largest hospital system has announced that a significant number of their staff are no longer employed by the organization after having refused to follow its mandate for all employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
Indiana University Health stated Thursday that 125 members of their staff have departed after refusing to take the jab and having first undergone a two-week unpaid suspension period that ended on September 14.
IU Health representatives did not confirm if the 125 employees – an overall small percentage of IU Health’s 36,000-member workforce – had voluntarily left the health network or if they were fired, simply issuing a statement that said that the workers had chosen “not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and have left the organization.”
The positions and specialties of the former employees were not disclosed, but it was noted that the departed were made up of both full and part-time workers who, when their hours were combined, were the equivalent of 61 full-time workers.
IU Health previously mandated in June that all employees – including doctors, nurses, and other members of their staff – would need to be fully inoculated against COVID-19 by September 1. Just under 300 employees that refused were put on immediate two-week suspension without pay with the option to return if they had received either a partial or full vaccination; 125 ultimately refused the mandate and are no longer employed.
President Joe Biden had previously announced on September 9 that businesses that employ 100 workers or more will be forced to institute a vaccine mandate for all employees, or have those who refuse to submit to weekly testing, with the Department of Labor imposing large fines on companies that do not comply.
Over 150 hospital systems in the United States have issued vaccination mandates to their employees as COVID-19 cases have increased due to the newer, more potent Delta variant.
The healthcare network currently operates 15 hospitals and numerous outpatient clinics in Indiana.
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