Telecommunications giant T-Mobile US (TMUS) is joining the ranks of companies requiring their workers to get vaccinated against Covid.
“Data clearly and consistently show that vaccines offer our best chance of preventing illness, serious illness and death from Covid-19,” T-Mobile said in an e-mail to its employees obtained by The T-Mo Report, a news service about T-Mobile.
“With the well-being of our community top of mind, we’re asking everyone at T-Mobile to be fully vaccinated by April 2.” Employees have to show proof of first-dose vaccination by Feb. 21, or they will be put on unpaid leave.
Workers who don’t get a full vaccination by April 2 will be terminated.
A few job titles, like retail mobile expert and field technician will be exempt from the requirement. So will employees with a medical or religious accommodation or state-specific exemption.
“In retail, where we don’t have control of who enters, our mobile experts have served customers incredibly well throughout the pandemic,” T-Mobile said. “We’ll continue to take precautions like masking and encourage our mobile experts to be vaccinated but not require it.”
Employees in customer service centers who don’t have their first shot by Feb. 21 won’t be put on leave to avoid disrupting customer service, T-Mobile said. But they must have their shots done by April 2.
“We have weighed this issue carefully with the benefit of input from our medical advisors and insights from many other large companies with similar policies, and it’s clear this is the right thing to do to help save lives and prevent serious illness,” T-Mobile said.
A slew of other major companies require at least some of their workers to get vaccinated, including Citigroup, McDonald’s and Microsoft.
