American Airlines said in a note Friday that unvaccinated personnel should use their own sick days if they detect the coronavirus, ending the company’s special pandemic drop.
The note to the staff seen by Reuters details the policy change that will take effect in October.
Previously, an employee who became ill with the virus had a special pandemic leave and did not have to use sick time to take days off.
The policy is still in place for fully vaccinated employees, but not for unvaccinated people.
“Given that there is an FDA-approved vaccine, only pandemic permission will be offered to fully vaccinated team members and they provide us with their vaccination card,” the airline said, according to the newswire.
The move comes the same day Alaska Airlines announced new rules for unvaccinated people, which restrict them to the special payment of COVID-19 if they lose their job.
“We will also require all unvaccinated employees to participate in a vaccine education program and we will have to stop paying the special COVID for absences of unvaccinated employees due to exposure or infection. All new contracts, effective immediately, must be vaccinated before being contracted to Alaska Airlines or Horizon Air, “the statement said.
Vaccinated Alaska Airlines employees will receive a $ 200 payment.
Companies across the country instituted a mask warrant after the Federal Drug Administration fully approved the Pfizer vaccine, but some companies, such as American Airlines, have made changes to their pandemic rules.
Airlines, following federal guidelines, still require all employees, regardless of vaccination status, to wear masks during work.