Thousands of Connecticut executive branch workers have gotten their shots under the governor's vaccine mandate. For those who aren't in compliance, the serious penalties have begun.
The governor's office says that 12 probationary employees were terminated Friday, as non-compliant workers with more experience in their jobs faced a 45-day unpaid leave of absence.
As of Friday evening, the state had not released statistics on how many have been placed on leave.
"We're continuing to do direct outreach to those people," says the governor's chief spokesperson, Max Reiss. "The process hasn't stopped. But what's been made clear to us by some of these individuals is: they're not going to comply either way. They're not going to get tested, and they're not going to get vaccinated."
As for the probationary employees who have already been escorted out of state office buildings, Reiss says there's no doubt they knew what was coming.
"People knew what the consequences were," says Reiss. "To say that we've been out in the open on it is probably an understatement... We've had commissioners, h.r. professionals, managers, supervisors reaching out to people deliberately and saying, 'We don't have any information from you yet. What can we expect?'"
"Some people made it clear we can expect nothing."
Also Friday, a formal agreement was reached between the state and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC), a coalition of state workers' unions representing 40,000 people.
SEBAC says that employees can choose "resignation in good standing" during the first 30 days of their 45 day leave of absence-- with the right to rescind that resignation. Those who don't choose resignation, and remain in non-compliance, will be terminated after 45 days.
The agreement also provides for free COVID testing for employees.
