The City of Ottawa put thousands of employees on unpaid leave Monday in an attempt to address the ongoing financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. City officials said the pandemic and the associated shutdown of non-essential services is costing Ottawa $1 million a day in lost revenue. To help offset the losses, more than 4,000 part-time and seasonal workers will go on unpaid leave while, Mayor Jim Watson said during a teleconference with reporters and other city officials. Most of the employees work in recreation or cultural programming on a seasonal basis, while the rest work part time for the Ottawa Public Library. Layoffs to save $2.7M per monthThe forced leave for part-time staff is expected to save the city $2.7 million a month, city manager Steve Kanellakos said.

Source: CBC News April 06, 2020 21:33 UTC