American Airlines Ends Coronavirus Pandemic Leave For Unvaccinated Employees

American Airlines has said it will end the pandemic leaves provided by the company for unvaccinated employees who are infected with COVID-19.

The Texas-based carrier told employees in a memo last week that its “pandemic leave will only be offered to team members who are fully vaccinated and who provide their vaccination cards” now that the Food and US Drug Administration (FDA) granted full approval. Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

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As of October 1, any employee who is not vaccinated and must be absent from work due to COVID-19 will be required to use sick leave or medical leave earned during their absence.

“We have heard from many team members that the full approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) gives them extra peace of mind when they were previously hesitant about getting the vaccine,” says the memo.

A passenger talks on the phone as American Airlines planes park at their gates at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh / AP Newsroom)

As a result, American said he had an “even greater desire to encourage as many of our team members as possible to get vaccinated.”

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Although the airline is not enforcing the vaccine yet, it is imploring its employees to get vaccinated and submit their vaccine cards by October 1 at the latest.

If employees are already vaccinated, they must submit their form “immediately”.

If they submit their proof of vaccine by the October 1 deadline, the airline will reward them. The airline said it could no longer offer an extra vacation day in 2022 as an incentive, but was offering “members of the US-based team who submit their vaccination cards during from this new window an additional day off in 2021 “.

The airline has warned it could change its policy and require vaccines for its staff later “if the virus continues to mutate, cases increase and some countries we serve demand it.”

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American’s move follows a similar move by Alaska Airlines, which announced last week that unvaccinated employees will no longer receive quarantine pay for absences due to COVID-19 exposure or infection. . They will also have to participate in an immunization education program. Alaska now requires new recruits to be vaccinated.

Delta Air Lines announced earlier that unvaccinated employees of Delta’s account-based health care plan would be hit with a monthly supplement of $ 200 starting in November.

“This supplement will be necessary to address the financial risk that the decision not to vaccinate creates for our business,” Delta CEO Bastian said in a note to employees last month.

Lucas Manfredi of FOX Business contributed to this report.