Recently, AT&T had announced that its management employees will need proof of COVID-19 vaccination ahead of the company’s expected return to in-person facilities. In addition, the Telecom giant is expected to engage with unions to assert the rules applicable to union employees in regard to a vaccine mandate. The company communicated it would be making exceptions for employees unable to receive a vaccine, for medical or other reasons. Today, Market Watch reported that CNN began firing employees at large, who refused to comply with the company’s COVID-19 vaccine policy. CNN parent company Warner Media, a subunit of AT&T, declined to comment on the matters. Given the relation to AT&T, it is almost certain that the same treatment will apply to AT&T employees, who also will not receive unemployment benefits if they are let go due to not complying with company vaccine guidelines.
In response to the vaccine mandates put in place by many private corporations and government agencies, many employees have begun wondering if such action is legally justified. In short, yes. Employers reserve the right to require employees to be vaccinated, as this qualifies as a condition of employment, similar to a job qualification.
“If you don’t want to be vaccinated, don’t have a religious or disability exemption, and you lose your job, chances are you will be found ineligible for unemployment compensation,” said Christopher Moran, partner and unemployment attorney at law firm Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders.
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The U.S. Department of Labor is soon expected to issue a requirement for businesses with at least 100 employees to mandate vaccines, or regular COVID-19 testing. In addition, federal workers, contractors working for the federal government, and select health-care workers will also face this mandate.
Following AT&T’s recent actions, many Fortune 500 companies have decided to impose strict vaccine mandates and other anti-Covid measures, to ensure a smooth return to in-person work, and the safety of employees. Verizon, for example, has announced that employees will be taken off payroll and terminated by January 18th, 2022 if they are not fully vaccinated by December 8th 2021. In recent news, Delta Airlines announced that it would be charging unvaccinated employees an additional $200 in monthly health insurance premiums, to account for potential COVID-19 infections, recently driven by the highly contagious Delta variant. Forbes reported that over 100,000 coronavirus hospitalizations could have been prevented by vaccination in June and July, these hospitalizations cost the U.S. healthcare system roughly $2.3 billion. Given the wide availability of COVID-19 vaccines, and the high cost of related hospitalizations, many other corporations may also want to limit their health insurance liability, this could take the form of vaccine mandates, insurance premium increases, etc.
“Those who have a disability or a sincerely held religious belief may be entitled to a reasonable accommodation under civil rights laws, so long as providing that accommodation does not constitute an undue hardship for the employer,” stated Sharon Perley Masling, an employment lawyer leading the COVID-19 task force, at Morgan Lewis. However, employees who don’t meet that criteria and refuse to be vaccinated may need to leave their company.
“Given the recent surge in the Delta variant, we are taking additional steps to help ensure the safety of our employees and customers, and provide for effective business continuity in what is a dynamic and uncertain environment” said AT&T in their address.
The company has rolled out this initiative as a measure to combat the rapid spread of COVID-19, and the recent Delta variant in the U.S.
The U.S. has a total of 44,051,008 active Covid-10 cases, per Google News. Driving the latest wave of Coronavirus cases is the highly contagious Delta variant, accounting for 80% to 87% of all U.S. cases through the end of July, per Science Magazine.
Even in these critical times, the United States stands divided on the issue of Covid-19 vaccinations. In a recent article, Forbes reports that Roughly 50% of Gen-Z employees would quit if their colleagues are not vaccinated. That figure is much lower for Millennials and Gen-X employees, at 40% and 36% respectively. On the other hand, the article also states that “About 44% of workers said that they would consider leaving their jobs if they were forced to get their shots.”
With a recent decrease in 14-day case count but a high case count in the U.S, seeing as though businesses, schools, and leisure facilities have returned to in-person assistance, is likely to increase the number of Covid-19 cases domestically. Whether or not AT&T’s employee vaccine mandate is effective, will be determined as the coming weeks progress and the company keeps the press updated.
Sources:
https://news.google.com/covid19/map?hl=en-US&mid=%2Fm%2F09c7w0&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen=
