Mandatory COVID-19 vaccines are becoming more widespread. Some employers are firing workers who won't take the vaccine while others are requiring unvaccinated employees to submit to weekly testing and take other safety precautions. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has weighed in with guidance that answers some workplace vaccination questions. For example, the agency said that Federal anti-discrimination laws don't prohibit employers from requiring all employees who physically enter the workplace to be vaccinated for COVID-19. Employers that encourage or require vaccinations, however, must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as well as Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and other workplace laws, according to the EEOC. Meanwhile, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration fully approved the Pfizer BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine on Aug. 23, which public health experts said might make it easier for employers to mandate the shot. While the legalities are evolving, let’s see what makes one US airline stand out from the pack and what stance their industry peers have taken on the vaccine question.
United Airlines became the first carrier to mandate vaccines for its US-based employees effective September 27 (five weeks after the first vaccine approval by the FDA). The company made the announcement on August 6, becoming the first domestic airline to require the vaccine as a condition of employment. The company’s mandate will apply to all 67,000 of its employees in the United States. “We know some of you will disagree with this decision to require the
vaccine for all United employees,” Scott Kirby, United’s Chief Executive, and Brett Hart, the company’s President, wrote in a letter to 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.” Each employee will have to send an image of their CDC-issued COVID-19 Vaccination Card to the company. Those who don’t will be terminated, with exemptions granted only for employees who document religious or health reasons for not getting the shots, officials said.
United has required new hires to be vaccinated since mid-June. Unvaccinated workers are required to wear face masks at company offices. The Chicago-based airline estimates that up to 91% of its pilots and close to 82% of its flight attendants are already vaccinated. They received incentives for doing so. The carrier gave flight attendants up to three additional days off for nearly 10 hours of pay in their 2022 vacation day bank if they showed they had been fully vaccinated by June 9. They received two days valued at 6.5 hours of pay if they received the first dose between June 10 and July 1 and the second in the manufacturers’ requirements, unless it was a single-dose shot. United had offered its pilots thirteen hours of pay if they showed proof of vaccination before June 1, twelve hours before June 10 and eleven hours of pay after that through June 30, when the incentive ended.
In May, the carrier launched a contest with free tickets as the prize for customers who uploaded their vaccination cards to the airline’s platform by June 22. The airline offered its MileagePlus members the chance to win free flights for a year’s worth of travel to encourage vaccinations. More than 500,000 people entered the “Your Shot to Fly” Sweepstakes (myself included). Every day in June, the carrier gave away a pair of roundtrip tickets for two, in any class of service, to anywhere in the world United flies. And in early July, they dipped back into the pool and randomly picked five winners for the amazing grand prize: Free flights for two,
anywhere in the world, in any class of service for an entire year. It appears that United played the right card as vaccine incentive programs are quite popular. According to a recent Harris poll, over two thirds (65%) of American like the idea of using incentives to encourage more people to get vaccinated. More importantly, these sweeteners resonate with the most relevant group of people: 57% of unvaccinated Americans support the idea of vaccine incentives and 54% say they are more likely to get vaccinated if an incentive is offered, per the Harris poll. Similarly, in a recent Morning Consult poll, nearly six in ten Americans (58%) said they think brands rewarding people is a good incentive to get vaccinated. In the bigger picture, getting more Americans vaccinated is solidly in all of the airlines’ self interest and a key to the recovery of the $1.5-trillion U.S. travel industry, which supports over eleven million American jobs.
On August 9, Peter Ingram, the President and CEO of Hawaiian Airlines, said all US-based employees would be required to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus by November 1. Employees will be able to apply for medical and religious exemptions and those who aren’t vaccinated will be tested regularly. “There is no greater demonstration of our values that ensuring the safety of others," Ingram said in a memo to employees, according to Hawaii News Now. “Safety is the foundation of air travel, and it is ingrained throughout our operation and service.” Several weeks ago, Frontier Airlines, the ultra-low-cost carrier based in Denver, instituted a vaccine mandate for employees.” A vaccination policy is a clear next step for the airline as it remains committed to the health and safety of all passengers and crew members," Frontier said in a statement. Employees, however, can opt out of mandatory vaccinations by submitting to regular COVID-19 testing. “The majority of our employees have already been vaccinated and our hope is that this step will increase that percentage,” Frontier spokesperson Zach Kramer said of the more than 5,300 workers directly employed the carrier. Frontier's policy differs from rival United Airlines that will only permit exemptions for religious or medical reasons.
By all accounts, Delta Air Lines kick started these domestic mandates several months ago when they required that all new hires in the US be vaccinated against COVID-19, effective on Monday, May 17 unless they qualified for an “accommodation." They broke new ground again on August 25 by requiring unvaccinated employees to pay an extra $200 per month for company-provided health insurance.
This surcharge is somewhat of a compromise. Delta is choosing not to
require current workers to get vaccinated as a condition of employment, as others have done, for reasons the company hasn’t yet explained. But, iI may have something to do with political opposition to vaccine mandates in Delta’s home state of Georgia. There are also questions as to whether charging some employees more for insurance complies with the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits higher insurance premiums for people with pre-existing conditions, except for narrow exceptions, such as smoking. So Delta could face a legal challenge. What’s much more clear is the mounting health and financial toll associated with the unvaccinated. Kaiser estimates 113,000 unvaccinated Americans who were hospitalized with Covid-19 in June and July would have stayed out of the hospital had they gotten vaccinated. At an average cost of $20,000 per hospitalization, those unvaccinated Covid victims required about $2.3 billion in unnecessary health care spending, in just two months.
Elsewhere, several other major US carriers are currently holding off. A spokesman for American Airlines reported there was “No update to American’s policy at this time,” but added the company was “strongly encouraging our team members to get vaccinated” and is offering an incentive in the form of an additional day off in 2022 and $50 to those who get the shot. Alaska Airlines will require unvaccinated employees to be tested regularly for Covid 19 and said it will no longer cover the pay of unvaccinated employees for Covid exposure or infection. Unvaccinated staff must also attend “a vaccine education program.” but the Seattle-based carrier stopped short of mandating vaccines, a policy it said it was considering last month.Alaska also said employees who share proof of vaccination by Oct. 15 will receive a $200 bonus. Three-quarters of the airline’s roughly 20,000 employees are vaccinated so far. New hires must be vaccinated to work at Alaska Airlines or their Horizon Air subsidiary. A JetBlue spokesperson said the airline is “continuing to evaluate a vaccination requirement for all JetBlue crew members, and in the meantime, is actively encouraging our crew members to get a shot to protect themselves and those around them.” The spokesperson added “Thousands of JetBlue crew members have already been vaccinated” and said the airline is “providing them with information about the benefits of vaccines and have held vaccination pop-ups in a number of locations to make it convenient for crew members.” Southwest said the airline had “no news…in this arena” when asked whether a similar vaccination policy was in the works.
Until next time...safe travels.
Good luck in winning the free travel anywhere for a year prize!