Google is reportedly willing to fire employees who don’t follow the company COVID-19 vaccination policy, according to internal documents leaked to CNBC.
Those documents state that Google will place any employees unvaccinated by Jan. 18 on “paid administrative leave” for a month. If they’re still unvaccinated after that point, Google will shift them to “unpaid personal leave” for six months. After that, any still-unvaccinated employees will be terminated.
“As we’ve stated before, our vaccination requirements are one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running,” a Google spokesperson told The Verge. “We’re committed to doing everything possible to help our employees who can get vaccinated do so, and firmly stand behind our vaccination policy.”
Although “several hundred” Google employees reportedly signed a manifesto against a vaccine mandate, recent survey data indicates that technologists are generally comfortable with companies asking for a COVID-19 vaccine as part of the job application process.
Blind, which surveys technologists anonymously on a variety of current issues, found that 63 percent of technologistswould view such a vaccine mandate favorably. Among Google employees, 69 percent had a favorable view, 10 percent had a negative view, and 21 percent had no opinion.
Earlier this year, the Biden administration implemented vaccine requirements for employers with 100 or more workers; unvaccinated workers would need to be tested weekly and wear a mask in the workplace. Although a federal appeals court temporarily blocked the rule’s implementation, many employers expect some version of it to eventually go through.
Some technologists “have started to include their COVID-19 vaccine status on social media profiles and resumes,” added Blind’s blog posting about the data. “The phenomenon may be in part due to the growing inclusion of COVID-19 vaccination policies in job descriptions and company careers pages.” If you’re applying for a job at Google, the question of vaccinations will come up pretty much immediately.
