Delta to impose $200 surcharge on unvaccinated employees

Delta, the third-largest American airline, is set to impose a surcharge of $200 on the employees who are not vaccinated against COVID-19. The employees who are fully vaccinated but in any case get infected by COVID-19 would only be getting sick pay.

Boss Ed Bastian said that these steps would help to contain the “aggressive spread” of the COVID-19 virus. They took this step as the cases of the virus are rising all over the US.

Delta is the first country that is urging its staff for getting fully immunized. According to the memo by Mr Bastian to his staff, he highlighted Delta would impose a surcharge from 1 November to staff enrolled in its healthcare insurance plan, meaning most of its 75,000 workers will be affected.

Mr Bastian said, “This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company. In recent weeks since the rise of the B.1.617.2 variant, all Delta employees who have been hospitalized with Covid were not fully vaccinated.”

The unvaccinated staff of Delta has been ordered to have their weekly tests and wear masks while being in all indoor settings. This order will be in effect from 30 September. The staff in the airlines have to wear masks when on board. These instructions do not apply in company offices.

These instructions point towards the US firms trying to range their efforts towards encouraging their staff to get fully vaccinated as the delta variant of coronavirus hits the country hard.

Some companies, such as United Airlines, Goldman Sachs and tech giants Microsoft and Google, have told staff they must be fully jabbed to come into work.

Out of the main investments giant, Vanguard had offered a $1000 bonus to their vaccinated staff. At the same time, Amazon and Apple have no policy in place till now.

On Wednesday, investment bank Credit Suisse said it would ask all unvaccinated employees to work from home from 7 September. Like others, it has also delayed a total return to the office until October.