Google has threatened that its employees who have not received Covid-19 vaccination would lose their jobs.
It said it would force such employees to go on compulsory leave from where they will lose their jobs.
The employees on compulsory leave will be laid off if they fail to follow the company’s COVID-19 rules.
This became public following an internal memo which CNBC obtained.
According to the memo, the policy will affect employees that would have fallen under the jurisdiction of President Biden’s vaccine mandate.
The vaccine mandate is currently facing challenges in the Senate and court system.
In the memo, Google gave its employees until December 3rd to upload proof of vaccination or receive approval for a medical or religious exemption.
Consequently, Google said it would place any employee who fails to comply on or before January 13th on a 30-day paid administrative leave.
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Also, if they still refuse to comply even while on compulsory leave after the 30 days, they could face unpaid leave for up to six months.
After that, Google will terminate their appointments.
According to report by CNBC, Google did not deny or is not denying the policy.
Confirming this, a Google spokesperson, Lora Lee Erickson, said thus:
“As we’ve stated before, our vaccination requirements are one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe.
She said it is also how the company “keeps our services running.
“We’re committed to doing everything possible to help our employees who can get vaccinated do so.
She said they “firmly stand behind our vaccination policy.”
According to CNBC, employees who have not taken the vaccine may have some options:
First, while the company expects the president’s mandate to apply to mostly everyone, employees can look for positions that the mandate does not cover.
Employees can take positions outside of an office.
If they find one (or already have one) they’d also have to be able to do the job remotely.
Google’s vaccine policy only applies to in-office employees.
Meanwhile, Google said it does not allow frequent testing as alternatives to taking the vaccine.
Another option that employees can take is to request an exemption from the company.
Recall that the new variant of Covid-19, Omicron is infecting many people now.
Consequently, Google said it would even pay its employees to work remotely.
However, the company also expects that much of its workforce will be doing at least some work-in person.
However, CNBC says that even remote workers must receive the vaccine if they fall under the mandate.
TheVirge reports that “both pay and vaccination requirements have been hot-button issues inside the company — during a company all-hands, executives fielded a question about whether Google plans to raise wages to match inflation (the company said it didn’t plan to do so). CNBC also reported last month that an anti-vaccine mandate manifesto, signed by hundreds of employees, was shared within Google.”
Implication:
The new policy that Google has adopted is to keep employees safe.
It also entails sustaining continuity of the company as no company will function well without workforce.
However, Google must execute the policy in a way that it does not infringe on the rights of employees.
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