Unvaccinated Staff Of American And Alaska Airlines To Lose Pay Protection

Nikki Attkisson | Last Updated : September 9, 2021

Covid-19 is not going away at the earliest. We can take a precaution from our side by getting inoculated. That would be a great start to defeat the deadly disease.

A citizen of the United States of America has got his or her government to remind them about getting vaccinated. Employees of some airlines have got a motivation of another kind.

Unvaccinated Staff Of American And Alaska Airlines To Lose Pay Protection

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines have decided to shut down their programs under which they would pay their employees for the quarantine period. Both the airlines have announced that they will no longer cover the leave days of their employees if they have to quarantine due to Covid-19.

Unvaccinated Staff Of American And Alaska Airlines To Lose Pay Protection

The step is in the right direction to encourage everyone to get vaccinated.

American Airlines issued a memo to its employees regarding the same. The airlines highlighted the fact that since vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration were available, they needed to get vaccinated. It added that the paid leave due to Covid-19 would only be approved for employees who have been administered with both doses.

The policy is expected to be effective from October 01, 2021. An employee who remains unvaccinated will have to utilize his or her sick days or paid leaves if they catch Covid-19 and slide into quarantine because of that.

Alaska Airlines has reinstated the policy. The need arose due to the rise in cases. Delta Variant has taken a toll on many victims. The number of cases is on the rise in the graph.

The airlines applied the policy on August 30, 2021. The objective was to encourage its employees to get vaccinated. Alaska Airlines is offering a monetary incentive to employees to get fully vaccinated and produce a certificate for the same. The amount that they get is $200. The last date to submit their certificate is October 15, 2021.

Employees who are unable to share the certificate would be assumed to be unvaccinated. Such employees would be required to sit for mandatory training about the Covid-19 vaccine education program and follow mask-wearing policy every time. People have often expressed their anguish due to the mask-wearing policy. It seems that an employee can set himself or herself free from that policy by getting vaccinated.

Another airline that has come into the news with a similar policy is Southwest Airlines. On the contrary, Southwest Airlines had withdrawn its policy that required its employees to be vaccinated. It cited that since the cases were decreasing and vaccination was widely available in the United States of America, a policy that encouraged its employees to get vaccinated was not required.

Brandy King, the spokeswoman of Southwest Airlines, announced that the airlines would implement a Quarantine Pay Program. The program would support all the employees who have to get quarantined due to Covid-19.

The airline has, however, got sued by its employees as any change in such policies required the airlines to negotiate it with the union.

A different approach has been adopted by Delta Airlines. It has announced that a surcharge of $200 would be imposed every month on employees who are unvaccinated and covered under the health insurance policy of the airline. It will also stop the pay protection for employees who are not vaccinated.


Nikki Attkisson

With over 15 years as a practicing journalist, Nikki Attkisson found herself at Powdersville Post now after working at several other publications. She is an award-winning journalist with an entrepreneurial spirit and worked as a journalist covering technology, innovation, environmental issues, politics, health etc. Nikki Attkisson has also worked on product development, content strategy, and editorial management for numerous media companies. She began her career at local news stations and worked as a reporter in national newspapers.

Sign Up For Our Daily Dose Of Hot News