American, Alaska Air will finish pay protections for…

American Airlines and Alaska Airlines will not cowl Covid-19 quarantine time for workers who aren’t vaccinated in opposition to the virus, the most recent push to get employees inoculated.

“Going forward, given there is an FDA-approved vaccine, pandemic leave will only be offered to team members who are fully vaccinated and who provide their vaccination card to us,” American mentioned in a employees memo Thursday. The change begins Oct. 1 and unvaccinated employees must use their sick time or medical go away in the event that they miss work due to Covid.

The same coverage at Alaska Airways went into impact Aug. 30.

Each airways stopped in need of instituting a vaccine mandate, just like the one United Airlines introduced final month, and the coverage adjustments present diverging ways amongst carriers in encouraging employees to get vaccinated.

Alaska Airways on Thursday mentioned it will pay employees $200 in the event that they disclose their proof of Covid-19 vaccination by Oct. 15 and mentioned those that fail to take action might be thought-about unvaccinated. Staff who’re unvaccinated must put on masks always on the job and attend a “mandatory vaccine education program.”

Southwest Airlines, which additionally would not require staff to be vaccinated, mentioned it will restore pay or paid break day to employees who needed to quarantine as a result of a Covid-19 an infection or for being in shut contact with somebody who examined constructive, retroactive to June 16. The corporate had discontinued that program in mid-June, citing a drop in Covid circumstances and excessive vaccine availability.

Southwest’s pilots union earlier this week sued the airline, alleging that plenty of Covid-related polices, together with the top of paid break day for publicity or an infection, required negotiation with the union.

“With COVID-19 cases continuing to rise, due to the Delta variant, Southwest is taking an additional step to support our Employees by implementing a Quarantine Pay Program,” mentioned spokeswoman Brandy King. The brand new coverage will restore time-off balances for workers “who previously, and responsibly, quarantined for Company-related incidents over the summer as cases spiked in the general population across the country.”

Delta Air Lines final week mentioned it should impose a $200 monthly surcharge on staff lined by the corporate medical health insurance on Nov. 1 if they don’t seem to be vaccinated. The Atlanta-based provider additionally mentioned it will cease pay safety for unvaccinated employees in the event that they miss work due to a Covid an infection.