United Airlines will bring back employees who were placed on unpaid leave last year because they refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The airline told employees in a memo late last week that workers who avoided vaccination by claiming a medical or religious exemption will be allowed back starting March 28.

The company’s VP of human relations, Kirk Limacher, said in the memo that United was taking the step because it expects coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths to continue to drop over the next few weeks.

New reported cases of COVID-19 in the United States have dropped sharply since mid-January, when the highly contagious omicron variant began to wane.

“Of course, if another variant emerges or the COVID trends suddenly reverse course, we will re-evaluate the appropriate safety protocols at that time,” Limacher said.

Last year, CEO Scott Kirby pushed the mandate as a critical safety measure, and United became one of the most visible US corporations to impose a vaccine requirement. The company said that about 97% of its 67,000 US workers got the shots, and only about 200 were terminated.