In a bid to encourage more and more employees to get vaccinated, Southwest Airlines has implemented a new vaccine policy. Under this policy, the airline will give 16 hours extra pay to all the fully vaccinated staff. At the same time, those staff who are not vaccinated against the Covid-19 would lose special sick pay in case of getting infected with the coronavirus. The extra pay will be given if the employee shows proof of vaccination on or before November 15. The company said in a memo that such employees would be eligible for two days of pay.
For those employees who are not paid on an hourly basis, Southwest said that such employees would get pay for 13 trip segments. Flight attendants and pilots are not paid on an hourly basis. The airline has also confirmed that unvaccinated employees who would get infected would not be entitled to quarantine pay protections. This will be applicable post-November 15. Under the protection, the employees of Southwest Airlines are entitled to get full pay for up to 10 days in case they are tested positive for Covid-19 during the job.
The airline said that those who are not vaccinated against Covid-19 would continue to be able to avail of normal sick leave. “Those who are not vaccinated will have enough time to get fully vaccinated to at least receive the first dose before the policy gets in effect,” the company told its employees. There are several other airlines that have announced similar moves. Delta Airlines, Alaska Airlines, and American Airlines are some of them. Earlier in August, United Airline made it mandatory for employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19. It became the first airline to do so. Other airlines have made vaccination mandatory for only new hires and encouraging existing employees to get inoculated. There are several measures being taken by these airlines to encourage their employees to vaccination. Delta recently said that those who are not vaccinated would have to pay extra for health insurance.
