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NEW YORK. – Delta Airlines will charge employees on the company health plan US$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 a patient with the virus costs the airline US$50 000. It will only pay sick pay to Covid sufferers who have been double-jabbed but still get infected.
Delta chief executive officer Ed Bastian said yesterday that all employees who have been hospitalised for the virus in recent weeks were not fully vaccinated.
The airline said yesterday that it also will stop extending pay protection to unvaccinated workers who contract Covid-19 on September 30, and will require unvaccinated workers to be tested weekly beginning September 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 September 27 or face termination. However, the US$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.
Meanwhile, investment bank Goldman Sachs will require staff in its US offices to take weekly Covid-19 tests even if they are fully vaccinated, the New York Times reported.
The banking giant told staff in a memo on Tuesday that employees who were not fully vaccinated by September 7 must work from home.
The memo said that workers should wear masks at all times at the company’s San Francisco and Washington offices unless they are eating or drinking. The bank will require anyone entering its US offices to be fully vaccinated, including clients. – Agencies.
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