City of Calgary will lay off staff as part of COVID-19 response

The City of Calgary says some part-time employees will be laid off as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Mayor Naheed Nenshi said all of those affected are on-call or casual employees who are not currently working, explaining that laying them off could allow them to access federal and provincial supports. 

Most of those affected help deliver recreation programs that have been closed as part of the pandemic shutdown. 

Nenshi was speaking early Monday afternoon as he and others gave an update on how the city is responding to the pandemic.

The number of affected employees wasn't made public, although Nenshi said there could be more details at the end of the day or on Tuesday. 

He did say approximately 10 per cent of the city's workforce falls into the categories of workers who are to be laid off, but he said not all of them would receive notice.

City manager David Duckworth stressed these are not permanent reductions. 

"This is not an action that we wanted to take, but we needed to," he said. 

Some of those being laid off will receive payment in lieu of notice, while others will be able to work through their notice period.

Nenshi said the city is hemorrhaging money due to a drastic decline in transit ridership and more. 

For now, full-time city employees will be spared. 

"At this point there are no issues contemplated for regular full-time staff," said Nenshi.

The announcement comes the same day Edmonton and the Edmonton Public Library said they would lay off 2,100 combined employees.