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As vaccinations continue in the United States, some companies are offering financial incentives to encourage their workers to get vaccinated.
Instacart Inc., the grocery delivery service, announced Thursday that it will provide a $ 25 allowance to workers who receive the COVID-19 vaccine. He joins others, including Trader Joe’s and Dollar General, who plan to pay workers extra if they get vaccinated.
“Our goal with the introduction of our new Vaccine Support Allowance is to ensure that when the time comes, Instacart buyers will not have to choose between earning an income as a provider of essential services or being vaccinate, ”Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Instacart, said in a statement.
San Francisco-based Instacart has nearly doubled its workforce, which is mostly concerts, to around 500,000 to meet an increase in demand for online groceries since the start of the pandemic in the United States. United States last spring.
The Trader Joe’s grocery chain said Thursday it would give employees two hours of pay per dose to get the vaccine. The Monrovia, Calif., Based company said it would also change schedules to ensure employees have time to get vaccinated.
Dollar General said on Wednesday he would give employees the equivalent of four hours’ wages if they receive the vaccine. The Goodlettsville, Tennessee-based retailer said it employs 157,000 people.
A U.S. Centers for Disease Control’s vaccine advisory group voted late last month on recommendations for vaccine distribution. The panel said grocery store workers – which would include Instacart and Dollar General employees – should be in the second group to receive vaccines after healthcare workers and nursing home residents.
It is up to each state to decide how and when to adopt the CDC recommendations. Some states have already opened eligibility for the second group, which also includes firefighters, police, teachers, correctional officers, postal workers, and people 75 and over. There are about 50 million people in this group.
Companies can mandate that workers get COVID-19 vaccines as a condition of employment, although they must make accommodations for medical or religious reasons, according to guidelines from the Federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission .
However, most companies are reluctant to impose such mandates, said Sharon Perley Masling, a partner at the Morgan Lewis law firm, which advises clients on workplace issues surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic. The emergency nature of the FDA’s approval of the vaccine makes it impossible for many companies to require it, given that the vaccines are not available to most of the population, she said.
Regardless, Masling said the companies she works with are taking a variety of measures to strongly encourage their workers to get vaccinated, including internal public relations campaigns showing top executives who are eligible to receive the vaccines. Other incentives include free child care, paid time off, and freebies like pizza delivery and other freebies, she said.
“It’s good for employees, it’s good for their communities, and it’s good for sustaining business operations,” said Masling.
The pressure to vaccinate comes as some people – even healthcare workers – are reluctant to get the photos, contributing to a slower-than-expected rollout of the mass vacation effort in the U.S. Masling said many companies are still trying to figure out what their employees think about taking the photos , with a few internal inquiries.
Not all companies offer bonuses. The DoorDash delivery app, another big platform for scene workers, said it had asked the CDC and governors to prioritize delivery people in vaccine distribution. But it does not provide benefits for workers who get vaccinated.
Target Corp. also does not provide any incentives, but said it would make the vaccine free and accessible to its 350,000 employees. Target said 1,700 of its stores have a CVS pharmacy on-site that will offer the vaccine to staff when it becomes available.
Albertsons, a grocery chain with 2,250 US stores and 300,000 employees, also does not offer financial incentives. Like DoorDash, he is calling on state and local authorities to ensure his workers are given priority for the vaccine.
Many large companies have come under fire for the way they have treated their workers throughout the pandemic, from shoddy sick leave policies to poor working conditions in factories and warehouses. Companies, from meat packing plants to Amazon, have been grappling with worker absences and epidemics that have forced temporary closures of their factories and warehouses. There is also an imminent debate in Congress on whether employers should be exempted from legal liability related to exposure to the coronavirus, as more people recall their employees from offices and other workplaces. .
These challenges are a strong incentive for companies to vaccinate their workers and put the pandemic behind them, said Laura Boudreau, professor of economics at Columbia Business School specializing in labor rights.
“Many of them have had to defend their reputations for the way they treat their employees throughout the pandemic,” Boudreau said.
Instacart is among several companies that have been pushing for their workers to be prioritized for vaccines. The company has faced criticism and unrest among workers over allegations it has not done enough to protect its construction workers, who do not receive health insurance through the company or paid sick leave.
The company claims to have distributed 620,000 free safety kits to its employees, including face masks and hand sanitizers. It introduced a new policy in March to provide 14 days of paid leave to construction workers who are diagnosed with COVID-19 or who have been ordered to quarantine due to potential exposure.
The workers and human rights group said that was still not enough to discourage people with symptoms from staying at home. The company subsequently began providing telemedicine appointments to workers with symptoms of COVID-19.
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