United’s pool of unvaccinated employees is shrinking fast as the airline begins the process of terminating unvaccinated employees. 46% of slow-to-be vaccinated United Airlines employees managed to upload proof of vaccinated status in just two days this week.
Monday was United’s employee vaccination deadline
United Airlines made headlines in early August when it became the first major airline in the United States to mandate employee vaccinations. The Chicago-based airline employs 67,000 workers in the United States.
“This fall, every US-based United employee will be required to receive a COVID-19 vaccine,” United Airlines told its employees in August.
“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.
“So, the latest potential deadline for meeting this requirement is October 25. However, according to media reports, the FDA is likely to announce its full approval for the vaccine early next month, so the earlier timeline is more likely.”
270 United employees upload vaccination evidence in 48 hours
That timeline did get brought forward, the deadline fast-forwarding to Monday, September 27. By then, whether happily or not, 96% of United’s United States-based employees had uploaded proof of their vaccination status. Some 2,000 employees sought exemptions for religious or medical reasons. United says if the exemption is granted, those workers will go onto temporary unpaid leave.
But a hardcore cohort of 593 employees declined vaccination and did not apply for an exemption. One day after the Monday deadline, United Airlines began the process of terminating their employment.
United said violating the company’s safety policy constituted grounds for termination. Furthermore, termination for this reason rules the employee ineligible for unemployment benefits.
And that appears to have encouraged many of the remaining United employees to get vaccinated. On Thursday, CNBC reported 270 of the 593 employees whose jobs were in jeopardy had uploaded evidence of their vaccination since Tuesday. It leaves the jobs of just 320 workers under threat.
“Our vaccine policy continues to prove requirements work. In less than 48 hours, the number of unvaccinated employees who began the process of being separated from the company has been cut almost in half, dropping from 593 to 320,” United said in a statement.
Laggards or resisters? It seems mostly the former
It looks like many of the 593 workers weren’t simply anti-vaccine, just slow to upload evidence of their vaccination status. There was a rush to upload evidence in the final days to Monday’s deadline. Tuesday’s little push-on by United’s management may be just that – another prompt.
On Tuesday, the Association of Flight Attendants said that less than 100 of United 23,000 odd flight attendants remained unvaccinated. Five hundred fleet and passenger service workers hadn’t uploaded proof of vaccination status on Monday, but that number dropped 20% overnight.
Normally, it takes weeks for the termination process to take place. In this time, if an employee gets vaccinated, United Airlines has indicated it will keep them on. However, it does remain indisputable that a small number of vaccination resisters will take United’s termination threat through to the messy end.
A handful of employees have sued United Airlines over its vaccination mandate. They told a Texas court United failed to provide them with reasonable accommodations for religious or medical reasons. United is defending the matter.
Do you agree with United Airlines making vaccinations compulsory for its United States-based employees? Post a comment and let us know.
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