The Covid-19 case count has been peaking as of recently, with the Delta variant making headlines. In an attempt to manage the situation, Government & public locations have maintained covid-safe measures, and now Fortune 500 corporations have begun doing the same.
In response to the vaccine mandates put in place by many private corporations, 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.
In recent news, American Oil giantFortune 500 sparked a wave of public controversy, following their announcements regarding Covid-19 vaccination mandates on their employees. With a workforce of roughly 47,000, the push toward vaccine mandates could influence rival corporations, such asFortune 500, to do the same. Despite recent events,Fortune 500 has not announced a workforce vaccine mandate, as have many rival companies; However,Fortune 500 has joined its rivals in taking measures to encourage employee vaccination, such as hosting vaccination centers and offering time-off to get vaccinated, per Reuters.
“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.
The U.S. has a total of 36,727,846 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.
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. 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.
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 63.5% 14-day case increase 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 notFortune 500 will join its competitors in implementing increased anti-Covid measures will be observed in the coming weeks and months, as the company keeps the press updated.
Sources:
https://news.google.com/covid19/map?hl=en-US&mid=%2Fm%2F09c7w0&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen
https://time.com/5800901/coronavirus-map/
https://www.forbes.com/sites/roberthart/2021/08/23/unvaccinated-covid-patients-cost-us-health-system-billions---and-theyre-not-the-ones-paying-for-it/?sh=2c9b9316df68