A sudden surge in the COVID-19 cases and the threat by the recent omicron variant has raised the importance of the vaccinations. While a number of people have already received their shots, pressure shifts on the people who continue to remain unvaccinated due to religious or other reasons. Search engine giant Google has circulated a memo that has given a detailed plan to comply with its order and bring the employees back to its Mountain View office.
Google will start contacting its unregistered employees on December 18, 2021 while asking for a proof of vaccination. The unvaccinated employees who did not receive the medical or religious exemption on January 18, will get ‘paid administrative leave’ for 30 days that will be followed by six months of unpaid personal leave that will include three months of full benefits. Even after this, if the employees continue to remain unvaccinated, Google will terminate them. The move has been made after the White House executive order has presented a policy that the companies with 100 or more employees will have to ensure that each of their worker is fully vaccinated or tests for COVID-19 on a weekly basis.
The employees are expected to receive the vaccine by January 4, 2022. However, there are also workers whose jobs do not require going to the office and they might be permitted to work remotely in future. But majority of the employees will be expected to return to the office for three days a week. Google in a statement said that the vaccination requirements are one of the ways they can ensure that the workforce remains safe and will help to keep their services running.
The statement added that they are taking every possible measure to ensure that their employees get vaccinated and firmly stand behind their vaccination policy. The search engine has started off with the new policy in the United States and is slowly expected to expand in other countries as well.
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