Citigroup was the first major Wall Street financial institution to adopt a strict coronavirus vaccine mandate that meant receiving the shot or facing termination.
Now, the company is apparently gearing up to enforce the mandate, which affects U.S. workers, Bloomberg reported on Friday:
Office workers who don’t comply by Jan. 14 will be placed on unpaid leave, and their last day of employment will come at the end of the month, according to a message to staff seen by Bloomberg. While some of the employees will be eligible for certain year-end bonus payments, they’ll have to sign an agreement that states they won’t pursue legal action against the company to receive the funds, according to the message.
“You are welcome to apply for other roles at Citi in the future as long as you are compliant with Citi’s vaccination policy,” the company’s message reportedly said.
Over 90 percent of its staff members have complied with the rule, which permits employees to seek religious or medical exemptions, people familiar with the issue explained.
“While that number continues to rise quickly, the company has had to navigate shifting local laws and is facing public backlash from a handful of employees — mirroring the vaccine divisiveness playing out across the country,” the Bloomberg article reads.
“Citigroup’s effort to require shots among about 70,000 employees is worth watching because its rules are the sternest so far among major financial companies, an industry that’s been keen to bring back workers to their buildings,” it continued.
Meanwhile, most Americans support a bill in Congress seeking to block President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandates for U.S. workers, a Convention of States Action/Trafalgar Group survey published Thursday found.
Breitbart News reported on the poll. “Overall, 51.1 percent said they support the bill, followed by 40.6 percent who said they do not and 8.3 percent who remain unsure. The percentage that supports the bill rises to 55.8 percent when the “unsure” option is removed. A majority of Republicans (73.3 percent) and independents (62.9 percent) support the measure to block Biden’s mandate, but 67.5 percent of Democrats are against it.”
Over 170 Republican Congressional leaders recently submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court arguing the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) had no authority to enforce a nationwide vaccine mandate on businesses with over 100 workers.
“Congressional members have an interest in the powers they delegate to agencies not being abused—the legislative authority vested in the federal government belongs to Congress, not the Executive branch,” members asserted.
“In this case, the promulgation by [OSHA] of a sweeping, nationwide vaccine mandate on businesses intrudes into an area of legislative concern far beyond the authority of the agency,” they added.
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