Delta Airlines (Photo by Nicolas Economou/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It looks like Delta Airlines is the latest airline to present their employees with an ultimatum in response to employees getting vaccinated.
According to NBC News, on Wednesday, the airline CEO Ed Bastian notified employees that if they are not vaccinated, starting November 1st they will start to face a $200 monthly increase on their health insurance premium. The reason behind the decision being the excessive costs it takes to cover employees who are hospitalized with the virus.
Other measures unvaccinated employees would have to face include indoor masking, and weekly COVID-19 tests, which are scheduled to start on September 12th. Bastian said in a memo, “The average hospital stay for COVID-19 has cost Delta $40,000 per person. 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 company also announced that starting September 30th, “in compliance with state and local laws, COVID pay protection will only be provided to fully vaccinated individuals who are experiencing a breakthrough infection.” However, employees who are not vaccinated and contract the virus will have to use their sick days.
At the top of the year, Delta started to require new employees to be vaccinated against the virus. Bastian says about 75 percent of their employees have been vaccinated.
As we previously reported, earlier this month, United Airlines announced that they will require all of their U.S employees to get vaccinated no later than October 25th, or they can risk being terminated from their roles at the airline.
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TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
