Starbucks has announced that it is imposing vaccination on all its employees in the United States as of February 9. Those who refuse to receive the vaccine will have to undergo regular screening tests every week.
The Seattle-based coffeehouse chain said on Monday it was doing so in accordance with an instruction from the US Federal Agency for Occupational Health and Safety, which in November asked all companies with 100 or more employees to ” adopt a policy of vaccination or screening tests.
This requirement, which has been the subject of numerous legal challenges, was upheld last month by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals. The Supreme Court in turn is due to hear the case on Friday.
Starbucks has asked its 228,000 US employees to disclose their vaccination status by January 10.
“I recognize that our partners have very diverse views on immunization just like the rest of the country,” Starbucks COO John Culver wrote in a letter to staff at the end of December. .
“My responsibility, like that of any leader, is to do whatever is possible to help keep you safe and create the safest work environment possible,” he added.
For Starbucks, full vaccination means two doses of Pfizer or Moderna vaccine, or even a single dose of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine.
If an employee refuses to be vaccinated, he will have to bear the costs of his weekly screening tests himself and see it himself by going every week to a pharmacy, a medical clinic or any other screening center where someone. one supervises the test.
Religious or medical justifications may be assessed, but to work in a chain café, any employee will have to be vaccinated or undergo a weekly screening test, the company assures us.
Employees who test positive for the virus will be able to use paid time off to isolate themselves. Starbucks says it currently offers two periods of five-day paid leave for its employees to self-isolate due to the pandemic.