Google threatens to fire unvaccinated employees

Google employees who have not been vaccinated can be put on forced leave and then released from the company if they do not follow the rules of covid-19, according to an internal memo obtained by CNBC. The policy will reportedly affect employees who would have fallen under the jurisdiction of President Biden’s vaccine mandate, which is currently facing challenges in the Senate and the judiciary.

According to the memo, Google gave its employees until December 3 to upload proof of vaccination or obtain approval for medical or religious exemption. The company says that anyone who does not do any of these things by January 1[ads1]3 will be put on 30 days of paid administrative leave. If they still do not comply after the 30 days, they could face unpaid leave for up to six months and then be fired, according to CNBC.

Google does not deny the policy. That’s what Google spokeswoman Lora Lee Erickson said The Verge:

As we have mentioned before, our vaccination requirements are one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running. We are committed to doing everything we can to help our vaccinated employees do so, and are committed to our vaccination policy.

The CNBC report points out that there may be some options for unvaccinated employees – while the company expects the president’s mandate to apply to pretty much everyone, employees can look for positions not covered by it, presumably those outside an office. If they find one (or already have one), they must also be able to do the job remotely. Google demands that employees in the office be vaccinated, and allegedly says that frequent tests are not an acceptable option. It is also possible to request a dispensation.

Although the company has not decided when employees will have to return to the office after the emergence of the omicron variant, it expects that much of the workforce will at least work personally. However, CNBC says that even teleworkers must be vaccinated if they fall under the mandate.

Both wage and vaccination requirements have been very important issues in the company – under a company that was in full control, executives asked if Google plans to raise wages to match inflation (the company said it had no plans to do so). CNBC also reported last month that a mandate against the vaccine manifesto, signed by hundreds of employees, was shared on Google.