DETROIT – Ford Motor will require US employees to get vaccinated or unpaid leave by December 8, CNBC has learned.
The automaker sent a message to around 32,000 Ford employees about the mandate on Tuesday. Ford will consider religious and medical exemptions for employees who cannot receive the vaccines, company spokeswoman Monique Brentley said.
Currently, employees who refuse to get vaccinated and do not have approved medical or religious accommodation are on unpaid leave of up to 30 days with job protection, the company said in an email. It was immediately unclear what would happen after those 30 days.
“The health and safety of our workforce remains our number one priority and we have been greatly encouraged by helping our employees adhere to our protocols, including the more than 84 percent of US employees who are already vaccinated,” Brentley said in a separate e- Mail declaration. “As we continue to take steps to protect our team, Ford will now require most US employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 8, which is in line with federal contractor guidelines.”
Parts of Ford’s business are classified as federal contractors, according to Brentley.
Federal contractors will have a lot of leeway to enforce President Joe Biden’s Covid vaccine mandate under the new guidelines the White House released on Monday
The vaccination requirement comes because the health and safety authority is also putting the finishing touches to a separate rule that requires companies with 100 or more employees – which is estimated to cover around two-thirds of the private sector workforce – to enforce a mandatory Covid vaccination policy, unless they do one Create a plan that gives employees the opportunity to be tested regularly.
Automakers have been reluctant to require Covid vaccinations ahead of the new rule, which will also cover their large, unionized workforces.
Both Ford and General Motors previously required employees to submit their vaccination status. Ford also voluntarily opened the submission process for its hourly workers, represented by the United Auto Workers union.
GM did not immediately respond to comments about changes to its employee vaccination policy.
The UAW has encouraged its members to be vaccinated, but does not support the introduction of mandatory vaccination for workers. Instead, they rely on their 400,000+ members to personally choose to vaccinate.
