United Airlines will Require All U.S. Employees to Get the COVID-19 Vaccine by Fall
United Airlines will require all of its U.S.-based employees get the COVID-19 vaccine by this fall.
Earlier this year, United CEO Scott Kirby said he wanted to make the vaccine mandatory as long as the Chicago-based airline wasn’t the only company to do so. Now, with COVID-19 cases rising, United joins companies including Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Tyson Foods that have said they will require employees working in person get the shot.
“We know some of you will disagree with this decision to require the vaccine for all United employees. But, we have no greater responsibility to you and your colleagues than to ensure your safety when you’re at work, and the facts are crystal clear: everyone is safer when everyone is vaccinated,” Kirby and United president Brett Hart said in a letter to employees Friday.
The airline’s 67,000 U.S. employees must provide proof they received all required doses of the Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccine by Oct. 25, unless the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approves a COVID-19 vaccine before Sept. 20, United said. If a vaccine receives full approval before that date, employees will have five weeks to provide proof they received a shot.
The vaccines have already received emergency use authorization.
Workers who refuse to get the vaccine will be required to leave the company — the same consequence an employee would face for failing to follow a critical safety requirement that is a core part of their job description, United said.
There will be exemptions for employees who decline the vaccine for religious or medical reasons, United said. When it comes to spotting fake vaccine cards, United said it plans to use what it learned from a sweepstakes it held earlier this summer that offered passengers who uploaded vaccine cards a chance to win free flights.
United has already been encouraging employees to get the vaccine, hosting vaccine clinics at airports including O’Hare International Airport and offering pilots extra pay and flight attendants additional vacation days as incentives to get the shot. Employees who haven’t already received an incentive will get an extra day’s pay if they provide proof of vaccination before Sept. 20, United said.
It’s not clear how many of United’s employees have already received the vaccine outside groups that got incentives to provide proof of vaccination. Roughly 90% of pilots are fully vaccinated, as are nearly 80% of flight attendants.
Vaccines are also playing a role in bringing corporate employees back to offices, including the airline’s Willis Tower headquarters. Plans for returning to work in person are up to each team, but employees must provide proof of vaccination to work in an office without a mask, United said.
Other major U.S. airlines have not issued companywide vaccine mandates, though Delta Air Lines, like United, requires new hires be vaccinated.
The airline told employees Kirby has sent dozens of condolences letters to family members of employees who died of COVID-19.
“We’re determined to do everything we can to try to keep another United family from receiving that letter,” the airline said.
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