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Highlights
- Citigroup Inc recently announced that it would terminate its US-based employees who are not fully vaccinated as of January 14.
- The ‘No Jab, No Job’ policy was first disclosed in October 2021.
- If employees do not submit vaccination proof by January 14, they will be put on unpaid leave until 31 January, which could be their last working date unless they are granted an exemption.
Battling the consequences of yet another wave of coronavirus, Citigroup Inc announced on Friday announced that it would its US-based employees who are not fully vaccinated as of 14 January under its ‘No Jab, No Job’ policy. The policy was first introduced in October 2021. This makes the New-York based global bank the first one to follow a vaccine mandate which is in line with the US government’s policy requiring workers to get fully vaccinated in order to control the spread of the Omicron variant. The Covid infections have gone up by five times this winter season as compared to last year due to the highly infectious Omicron variant.
As per the Citibank memo, if employees do not submit vaccination proof by 14 January, they will be put on unpaid leave until 31 January, which could be their last working date unless they are granted an exemption.
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As per sources, over 90% of employees are already compliant with the vaccination policy and the rest are going ahead with their plans to get a jab. Other banks such as Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan have discontinued with vaccine policy under which unvaccinated employees are terminated and asked them to work from home.
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According to Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup, said as the bank is a government contractor, and it needs to comply with the Biden’s executive order on vaccines and to bring its employees back to work safely when the fear of highly mutating Omicron variant is spreading like wildfire. Further, the global bank will assess the exemptions, which will be based on religion or medical grounds, or any other under state or local law.
Most staff will be able to avail certain year-end bonus payments as per the company rules. But to get the payment they must first sign an agreement not to pursue any legal action against the bank.
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Divisive issue in the US
Many people in the US as well other countries are in disagreement with the strict mandate imposed by governments and businesses. On Friday, the US Supreme Court was hearing arguments as requested by the business groups and Republican state officials to scrap the policy for businesses that have over 100 employees.
With the rising fear of the Omicron variant, many businesses have pushed back their work-from-office plans and are encouraging their employees to get fully vaccinated, but are not imposing the ‘No Jab, No Job’ policy for legal reasons. However, many businesses are asking employees to get fully vaccinated and avoid mass absences that could affect their operations.
Last month, United Airlines terminated around 200 employees after they failed to get vaccinated under the policy and many hospitals have terminated employees for failing to comply with the policy that has been imposed on the healthcare sector in over 20 states in the US.
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