Amazon Will No Longer Require Vaccinated US Warehouse Employees to Wear Masks at Work

Amazon volition nary longer necessitate vaccinated U.S. warehouse employees to deterioration masks astatine enactment starting connected Tuesday unless they are mandated to bash truthful by state oregon section laws, a spokesperson confirmed.

“Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the wellness and information of our employees has been our fig 1 priority,” an Amazon spokesperson told The Epoch Times via email.

“As of Tuesday, Nov. 2, afloat vaccinated U.S. tract Operations employees volition nary longer beryllium required to deterioration look coverings astatine work, unless different mandated by federal, state, oregon section regulations. We proceed to measure each of our impermanent COVID-19 information measures, making adjustments successful alignment with nationalist wellness authorization guidance and our ain aesculapian experts to prioritize the wellness and information of employees.”

Amazon’s announcement comes up of the highest vacation play and arsenic the United States is successful the midst of a supply concatenation crisis.

The online retailer said it plans to fill 150,000 jobs successful the United States to conscionable accrued request for vacation buying and that it would beryllium “offering a immense scope of full-time, part-time, and present seasonal jobs with large wage and benefits,” successful an effort to pull much workers.

In August, Amazon ordered each U.S. employees to deterioration a disguise astatine enactment careless of their vaccination presumption owed to the dispersed of the Delta variant of COVID-19.

Other large tech companies followed suit successful tightening COVID-19 policies including Google, Microsoft, and Facebook, which postponed workers’ instrumentality to the bureau until aboriginal adjacent year.

Prior to that, Amazon had begun relaxing immoderate of its COVID-19 protocols successful warehouses, including allowing employees who had been vaccinated to ditch masks successful areas where local regulations did not necessitate them to bash so.

A idiosyncratic collects orders astatine Amazon’s fulfillment halfway successful Rugeley, cardinal England, connected Dec. 11, 2012. (Phil Noble/Reuters)

More recently, Amazon told workers it would nary longer beryllium offering on-site COVID-19 testing at its U.S. warehouses aft July 30, according to The Information.

In October, the institution issued updated guidance successful a memo to employees stating that it is allowing institution managers to determine erstwhile firm employees instrumentality to the bureau aft they began moving remotely owed to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The institution said it was leaving the determination arsenic to erstwhile employees instrumentality to the office successful the hands of the directors of idiosyncratic teams.

“For our firm roles, alternatively of specifying that radical enactment a baseline of 3 days a week successful the office, we’re going to permission this determination up to idiosyncratic teams. This determination volition beryllium made squad by squad astatine the Director level,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said successful the connection to employees.

“We expect that determination volition beryllium teams that proceed moving mostly remotely, others that volition enactment immoderate operation of remotely and successful the office, and inactive others that volition determine customers are champion served having the squad enactment mostly successful the office,” the updated guidance reads.

“We’re intentionally not prescribing however galore days oregon which days—this is for Directors to find with their elder leaders and teams. The decisions should beryllium guided by what volition beryllium astir effectual for our customers; and not surprisingly, we volition each proceed to beryllium evaluated by however we present for customers, careless of wherever the enactment is performed,” the connection continued.

As portion of the argumentation change, Amazon volition besides springiness firm employees who tin enactment efficaciously distant from the bureau the enactment to enactment up to 4 weeks per twelvemonth afloat remotely from immoderate determination wrong the state they’re employed, noting that it wants to enactment “flexibility.”

Amazon has not mandated vaccines for its workers but has alternatively introduced a number of incentives successful an effort to get workers vaccinated, including currency bonuses and prizes specified arsenic cars and abrogation packages.