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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowDelta Air Lines plans to impose a $200 monthly surcharge on employees who aren’t vaccinated against COVID-19, becoming the first major U.S. company to levy a penalty to encourage workers to get protected.
The new policy was outlined in a company memo Wednesday from CEO Ed Bastian, who said 75% of the carrier’s workers already are vaccinated. Increasing cases of coronavirus linked to a “very aggressive” variant are driving the push for all employees to get the shots, he said.
The fee applies to employees in the airline’s health-care plan who haven’t received shots by Nov. 1. The company also will require weekly testing for employees who aren’t vaccinated by mid-September.
Delta stopped short of a mandatory vaccine requirement like the one imposed earlier this month by United Airlines and a growing number of other companies. Goldman Sachs, Google and Facebook also have announced vaccine requirements.
While mandates have increased since Pfizer and BioNTech’s vaccine received full Food and Drug Administration approval on Monday, some employers are treading carefully for fear they’ll hurt morale and spur defections in a tight labor market. Some health-care consultants doubt that surcharges will be as persuasive as mandates.
The fee for unvaccinated employees is “to address the financial risk” from their decision, Bastian said. The average hospital stay for COVID-19 patients has cost Delta $40,000 each, he said.
“With this week’s announcement that the FDA has granted full approval for the Pfizer vaccine, the time for you to get vaccinated is now,” Bastian said.
Under the new policy, any worker not fully vaccinated by Sept. 12 will be required to take a weekly coronavirus test “while community case rates are high,” the note said.
Employees who aren’t vaccinated must wear masks in all indoor settings, effective immediately. Delta also said that starting Sept. 30, COVID pay protection will be provided only to workers who have received both shots but who still get sick.
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Delta would install pay toilets on their planes if they could get away with it. Nickel and Dime operation, no mater how big they get.
Your misspelled Allegiant, Frontier, or Spirit.
I’d also like to suggest that iOS’s attempts at correcting spelling are the worst.
Delta is by far the best of the big 4 US airlines.
They should just impose a mandate and stop with the paltry medical insurance surcharge. Get the shot or you’re fired!
That’s what United is doing.
Fantastic idea Randy, fire everyone who doesn’t get the shot. Short reminder of where you CAN work and not be required to have the vaccine:
-NIH
-White House
-CDC
-FDA
-WHO
-Moderna
-Pfizer
-J&J
They are based in Georgia, so they can’t without a crazy legal battle.
RR, that is pure misinformation. The ONLY one of the organizations to not currently have some form of vaccine mandate in place or soon to be implemented is the WHO.
A July 29th order requires ALL Federal Employees (this would include the White House, CDC, FDA, and NIH) to confirm their vaccine status. Any federal employee who is not fully vaccinated is required to wear a mask at work, physically distance from other employees, comply with weekly or twice-weekly testing requirements and face restrictions on official travel.
Pfizer has a policy similar to that of the Federal government’s in place.
Moderna, as of October 1st, and J&J, as of October 4th, will both require full vaccination of all their US employees.