Amazon’s warehouse employees will not be required to put on masks within the office anymore, as long as they’re absolutely vaccinated. According to The Wall Street Journal, the e-commerce large instructed employees in a memo that it has eased its masks necessities because of the “sharp decline in COVID-19 circumstances throughout the nation over the previous weeks.” It additionally talked about the growing vaccination charges within the US as “a constructive signal” of its return “to regular operations.”
The firm required all employees to put on masks once more in December following a spike of COVID circumstances within the US attributable to the extremely transmissible Omicron variant. That got here half a 12 months after it allowed absolutely vaccinated people to unmask whereas working, which some employees noticed as a untimely transfer. Amazon made its choice in the identical week some states began rolling again their masks mandates and different pandemic restrictions. Walmart has dropped its masks rule for vaccinated employees on the identical time.
In addition to easing its masks mandate, Amazon can be ending paid depart for employees who contract COVID-19 if they don’t seem to be vaccinated. Workers should be finished with their second jab by March 18th to be certified for paid depart. How employees really feel about this transformation in guidelines stays to be seen, however Amazon has a historical past of clashing with its workers relating to COVID-related pointers. In 2020, employees at its Staten Island warehouse sued the corporate, accusing it of failing to observe pointers said by the CDC and the federal government of New York. Then in 2021, Amazon agreed to pay $500,000 after the California legal professional basic discovered that it hid its true COVID-19 case numbers from employees.