Business & Tech
COVID-19 Shots Now Mandated By Sussex County Healthcare Employer
United Methodist Communities in Sparta and Newton has told employees they will have voluntarily resigned without vaccine proof by Oct. 15.
SUSSEX COUNTY, NJ — Employees who work at all United Methodist Communities’ locations, including in Sussex County, have been told they must receive a full course of vaccinations for COVID-19.
In a news release on behalf of the company, Rebecca Roe - a spokesperson for the company - said employees at UMC at Bristol Glen in Newton and HomeWorks in Sparta, which provides home care services, must submit their full vaccination proof to the company by Oct. 15.
Exemptions for “medical conditions or sincerely held religious beliefs will be considered on a case-by-case basis,” Roe wrote.
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Employees without an exemption will “be deemed to have voluntarily resigned from their positions," according to the release.
Booster shots will additionally be mandated as they are available.
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United Methodist Communities’ President and CEO Larry Carlson stated in the release about the New Jersey-based company in Neptune, the company “has a high ethical and moral obligation to provide the safest living and working environment possible and believes the best path forward is a fully vaccinated workforce.”
Although the company, Carlson said, has an employee vaccination rate “significantly above the national average,” he attributed the rise in the Delta variant as part of the decision.
He said companywide across the state, 75 percent of employees are fully vaccinated.
“For the past year and a half, our residents and associates have sacrificed and gone to great lengths to protect themselves and their fellow community members from this virus,” David Glenn added, the company’s Vice President of Human Resources.
Glenn said that United Methodist Communities is “making steady progress in returning to group activities and welcoming back visitors,” with this plan, in addition to their other precautions and infection control procedures.
In early August, Gov. Phil Murphy mandated that New Jersey’s healthcare workers must get vaccinated or must regularly get COVID-tested by Sept. 7.
RELATED: COVID-19 Vaccines, Testing Now Mandatory For NJ Health Care Staff
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