City of Lethbridge announces 248 layoffs

Mar 30, 2020 | 3:04 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Several city employees have been temporarily laid off.

Interim City Manager Jody Meli says this includes a total of 248 employees, 244 of whom were casual workers. The other four are permanent part-time staff who volunteered for it.

“One of the main reasons for that is to ensure that those individuals had access to Employment Insurance.”

She confirmed that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic was the sole reason for the layoffs.

The layoffs are specifically for school bus drivers within the Lethbridge Transit system and for those who work in facilities that are currently closed such as the Lethbridge Public Library’s two branches, the Enmax Centre, Fritz Sick Memorial Centre, and the Galt Museum.

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There is no word yet on what the financial implications for the city will be just yet, but Meli says they are working to compile those numbers.

Once the COVID-19 situation cools down and society returns to a more normal level, she assures that these workers will be hired back.

Within city hall, some staff have been working from home while others have been moved around to different departments to meet growing needs. One example of this is to have more people work on the 311 phone line since they have seen a drastic rise in calls over the last few weeks.

by David Opinko