Business & Tech

Southwest Drops Plan Putting Unvaccinated Workers On Unpaid Leave

As federal contractors, Southwest Airlines and American Airlines face stricter COVID-19 mitigation strategies than other large employers.

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Southwest Airlines said it will allow employees who are waiting for religious and medical exemptions to federal vaccination requirements to continue working with a paycheck, if they haven't received the exemptions by the Dec. 8 deadline to request them.
Southwest Airlines said it will allow employees who are waiting for religious and medical exemptions to federal vaccination requirements to continue working with a paycheck, if they haven't received the exemptions by the Dec. 8 deadline to request them. (Getty Images)

ACROSS AMERICA — Southwest Airlines is scuttling a plan to put unvaccinated employees on unpaid leave as they wait for exemptions for religious and medical reasons to a federal requirement that they get the COVID-19 inoculations, CNBC News reported.

Employees of both Dallas-based Southwest and Fort Worth-based American Airlines are federal contractors and as such are subject to a Biden administration rule requiring vaccinations by Dec. 8 without an approved exemption. The rules for federal contractors are stricter than for large companies, and don't employees who don't want to get vaccinations to submit to regular COVID-19 testing instead.

In a letter to staff, Southwest executives said employees don't have to worry about losing their paychecks if their exemptions haven't been approved by Dec. 8, and reassured them they can wear masks while they're waiting for approval.

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