By Victor Omondi
(Source YourBlackWorld):
United Airlines is allowing unvaccinated employees to come back to work after adopting the most stringent COVID-19 vaccine regulations of any US carrier.
In August, United gave its 67,000 employees until September 27 to be immunized or face being sacked. Even though around 200 employees were fired for refusal to adhere with the vaccine requirement, more than 99 percent of the company’s employees received the vaccine before the deadline.
Approximately 2,200 workers, on the other hand, requested religious or medical exemptions from receiving the vaccine. All employees with approved exemptions were permitted to retain their jobs, but those in customer-facing positions were obliged to take unpaid leave or apply for a job that was not customer-facing..
United will reinstate the unvaccinated personnel with exemptions on March 28 after months of implementing the policy.
“We expect COVID case counts, hospitalizations and deaths to continue to decline nationally over the next few weeks and, accordingly, we plan to welcome back those employees,” Kirk Limacher, United’s vice president of human resources, stated in a memo to staff seen by Insider on Thursday.
In the memo, Limacher stated that “if another variant emerges or the COVID trends suddenly reverse course,” then the company would “re-evaluate the appropriate safety protocols at that time.”
As per the Wall Street Journal, newly hired employees would still be expected to be completely vaccinated, according to sources familiar with the issue.
United CEO Scott Kirby has been stringent in his staff inoculation mandate since the vaccine rollout, drawing backlash from Republican legislators including Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Kirby, on the other hand, has maintained his position.
“We did this for safety,” Kirby said. “We believe it saved lives.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention modified its mask guidelines, prompting the change in United policy.
Since the epidemic began, more than 950,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, but the number of new cases, hospitalizations, and fatalities has decreased in the last two months. In mid-January, the daily average had surpassed 800,000 infections.
After mid-January, when the highly infectious Omicron strain began to fade, new confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United States have declined substantially.
