NEW YORK | Premium of up to $ 500, transport reimbursed, compensation in paid hours … Some American bosses, eager to return to normal activity, are using great means to encourage their employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19.
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Sectors with a strong need for labor, such as supermarkets, slaughterhouses and farms, have taken the lead.
The Californian company Bolthouse Farms, which sells carrots, smoothies and juices, organizes weekly immunization sessions at its main site and pays $ 500 to all full-time employees accepting the bite.
In the United States, companies can indeed organize vaccination centers themselves if they undertake to operate them during working hours, free of charge and for all workers, employees and subcontractors.
Meat giant JBS is offering $ 100 to vaccinated employees and has distributed materials in multiple languages to emphasize the safety and effectiveness of immunization. By mid-March, about a third of its 60,000 employees had received a first dose.
Several large supermarket chains compensate their employees for two or four paid hours.
This “eliminates the need to choose between earning a living and protecting your health,” said the head of the Aldi inexpensive stores in the United States in January.
Obligatory ?
If necessary, the Target chain reimburses up to $ 30 for the trip.
Kroger stores offer a bonus of $ 100 to those vaccinated as well as those refusing the injection for medical or religious reasons, provided they follow a health education program.
“Odd jobs” are also taken into account: the Instacart shopping delivery platform offers 25 dollars to its delivery men, who are not employees.
The boss of the company United Airlines, Scott Kirby, had raised in January the possibility of making the vaccine obligatory for its pilots, members of crew and other employees.
The company is not yet at this stage, a spokesperson told AFP on Thursday: it is still examining who can have access to the vaccine in different states and how to ensure the supply.
But companies can generally force their employees to be vaccinated in the United States, told AFP Dorit Reiss, professor at the Hastings School of Law at the University of California. “With a few reservations,” she adds, however.
Vulnerable populations
The vaccines currently used in the United States are under the unusual regime, for a drug intended for the entire population, of an emergency authorization and “the legal framework is still uncertain,” notes the lawyer, stressing that each state may have its own instructions.
Companies may also, where appropriate, have to negotiate with unions.
Some employees may also claim exceptions for medical or religious reasons.
At the same time, employers can also be sued for not having acted vigorously enough to avoid an outbreak of contamination, notes Ms. Reiss.
It is, she says, appropriate for some companies working with vulnerable populations such as retirement homes or prisons to make the vaccine mandatory. And probably more appropriate for the majority of companies to offer incentives or subject to “soft obligations”, for example requiring either to be vaccinated, or to wear additional protection or to remain in telework.
Especially since people who hesitate do so mainly because they are worried about the safety of this new vaccine and will probably be reassured over time, underlines Ms. Reiss.
According to a survey released in February by the Human Resources Management Company (SHRM), only 5% of American bosses intended to impose the vaccine on all or part of their employees.
To accelerate the recovery of the economy, and therefore of consumption, some companies rely on customers: the Krispy Kreme chain thus offers until the end of the year a free donut against proof of vaccination while The Market Garden Brewery in Cleveland, Ohio has promised to offer a 10-cent beer to the first 2,021 people with a certificate.