Part-time municipal staff laid off in Kingston due to COVID-19 ‘work shortage’

The city of Kingston announced Wednesday it would be laying off a large number of part-time staff due to COVID-19 work restrictions.

There is currently a temporary work shortage due to changes prompted by the novel coronavirus pandemic, according to the city, which has prompted impending layoffs of “many” part-time municipal employees.

The layoff notices were sent out Wednesday, and will take effect April 12.

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“This shortage of work follows several city facility closures and discontinued programs, and impacts multiple departments,” a statement from the city read.

Last week, Global News confirmed that 55 part-time Kingston Transit bus drivers had been laid off due to the city’s continued restrictions on transit services.

Now, it seems, other departments are seeing similar cuts.

The city could not confirm how many part-time staff members received layoff notices Wednesday, but reiterated that “many” of them had.

Despite these layoffs, the city continues to operate, but rather at a lesser capacity in order to protect staff and the public from catching the disease.

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