Hundreds of executive branch employees must be in compliance with the state's vaccine mandate by tonight or they could be placed on unpaid leave.

Gov. Ned Lamont says significant progress has been made and around 90% of state workers are in compliance, with 23,000 executive branch state workers, or 74%, now fully vaccinated.

Around 5,000 workers or 15% have agreed to weekly COVID testing instead of getting vaccinated.

Around 3,000 workers or 11% have still not complied with the mandate.

The number of noncompliant workers was 8,000 during the previous update on Thursday.

The vaccine and testing requirement covers only executive branch employees, and not the legislative or judicial branches.

Lamont says those not in compliance by 11:59 p.m. could be placed on unpaid leave as soon as tomorrow and no later than next Monday.

The State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition has asked for a 20-day extension.

The coalition says many workers were placed on the noncompliance list despite filing the appropriate paperwork.

They issued a statement saying in part, "With a compliance deadline of Monday, Oct. 4th at 11:59 PM and zero confidence in Governor Lamont's administration to collect and present accurate numbers on noncompliance by that time, a strict implementation of the executive order could trigger extremely harmful consequences for workers and the people of Connecticut depending on the services they provide."

Last week, Lamont put the Connecticut National Guard on standby should there be staffing shortages. The guardsmen would be deployed until replacement workers can be hired or noncompliant workers comply. However, today Lamont says they likely wont be needed.

With more workers continuing to submit the necessary documents ahead of today's deadline, Lamont expects there to be minimal impact on day-to-day operations.

Lamont says he expects the compliance rate to hit 95% by tonight's deadline.