As companies increasingly introduce vaccination mandates for staff, Delta Airlines has gone a significant step further, saying it will charge employees on the company health plan $200 a month if they fail to get vaccinated against COVID-19, a policy the airline’s top executive says is necessary because the average hospital stay for the virus costs the airline $40,000.
CEO Ed Bastian said that all employees who have been hospitalized for the virus in recent weeks were not fully vaccinated.
The airline also says that as of Sept. 30 it will stop extending pay protection to unvaccinated workers who contract COVID-19 and will require unvaccinated workers to be tested weekly beginning Sept. 12, although Delta will cover the cost. They will have to wear masks in all indoor company settings.
Delta stopped short of matching United Airlines, which will require employees to be vaccinated starting Sept. 27 or face termination. However, the $200 monthly surcharge, which starts in November, may have the same effect.
“This surcharge will be necessary to address the financial risk the decision to not vaccinate is creating for our company,” Bastian said in a memo to employees.
Bastian said that 75% of Delta employees are vaccinated, up from 72% in mid-July. He said the aggressiveness of the leading strain of the virus “means we need to get many more of our people vaccinated, and as close to 100% as possible.”
Air Canada
Air Canada announced Wednesday as part of a new requirement that all employees of Air Canada mainline, Air Canada Rouge and Air Canada Vacations be fully vaccinated.
Under the mandatory vaccination policy, testing will not be offered as an alternative. Furthermore, with the exception of employees who cannot be vaccinated for valid reasons, such as medical conditions, all others who fail to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 30 will face consequences up to and including unpaid leave or termination.
The airline notes that its policy is in line with a recent announcement by the Government of Canada requiring employees in the federally regulated air, rail, and marine transportation sectors to be vaccinated by the end of October 2021.