Google joins growing list of employers mandating COVID-19 vaccines
As coronavirus cases in the U.S. begin a concerning climb upward and virus variants threaten a return to normalcy, a handful of businesses have announced COVID-19 vaccination mandates as they prepare to welcome workers back to the office.
The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission said employers can legally require COVID-19 vaccinations to re-enter a physical workplace, as long as they follow requirements to find alternative arrangements for employees unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons or because they have religious objections.
Still, the requirements have proven a hot button issue as business leaders mull over office reopening plans, in some cases sparking legal challenges and immense pushback from workers who refuse the shot. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that a mandate to require all federal employees to be vaccinated is now “under consideration.”
Here is a roundup of some of the major U.S. employers that have announced COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Tech giant Google announced a vaccine requirement Wednesday for those returning to its offices. The company has some 135,301 employees, according to SEC filings.
In a memo sent to employees, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai also announced that the company’s “voluntary” work-from-home policy had been extended through Oct. 18 after it was initially set to expire on Sept. 1. In addition, Pichai wrote that “anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated.”
“We’re rolling this policy out in the U.S. in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months,” the chief executive said. “The implementation will vary according to local conditions and regulations, and will not apply until vaccines are widely available in your area.”
He said local leads will share further guidance with employees, including “details on an exceptions process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other protected reasons.”
Pichai added that he hopes these steps “will give everyone greater peace of mind as offices reopen.”
Washington Post
Some staff members at the Washington Post on Tuesday shared on Twitter that the company announced it was mandating vaccines.
In a memo sent to employees and shared with ABC News by the Washington Post, publisher and CEO Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. announced the mandate and said employees must also “demonstrate proof of full COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment.”
The Post, which employs more than a thousand journalists and is aiming for a mid-September reopening, said accommodations will be provided to people with “genuine medical and religious concerns” and that they will need to document them with the human resources team.
“Even though the overwhelming majority of Post employees have already provided proof of vaccination, I do not take this decision lightly,” Ryan said in the memo. “However, in considering the serious health issues and genuine safety concerns of so many Post employees, I believe the plan is the right one.”
St. Jude’s, Houston Methodist and more hospitals
The health care sector, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been one of the industries with the most vaccination requirements.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that all patient-facing health care workers in state-run hospitals are required to get vaccinated. “That is a point of contact, that could be a serious spreading event, we want to make sure those workers are vaccinated period,” Cuomo said Wednesday.
At St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, staff were informed earlier this month that they had a Sept. 9 deadline to get vaccinated. “By September 10, employees who have refused vaccination or do not have an approved medical or religious exemption will be put on an unpaid administrative leave for two weeks,” wrote Dr. James R. Downing, president and CEO of the Memphis hospital. “Those who fail to start the vaccination process will be terminated at the end of the two-week period.”
The Houston Methodist hospital system in Texas, which oversees eight hospitals and has more than 26,000 employees, set a June 7 deadline for staffers to get the vaccine or risk suspension and termination. More than 175 staffers at the Houston Methodist hospital were temporarily suspended without pay last month after not complying with a mandate, and a lawsuit was filed against the hospital. A Texas judge sided with the hospital, tossing out the lawsuit filed by 117 employees who were against getting the shot.
Delta Airlines
Delta Airlines came out ahead of the curve on vaccine mandates. The airliner said in May that it would require all new hires in the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they qualify for an accommodation.
The Atlanta-headquartered company with some 91,000 full-time workers has said it will not be putting in place a company-wide mandate to require current employees to be vaccinated, though the new hires vaccine requirement kicked in on May 17.
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