Business & Tech
Wisconsin Businesses Are Enforcing Vaccine Policies With Fees, Firing
Some Wisconsin companies are choosing to fire or charge fees to employees who remain unvaccinated for COVID-19 after Joe Biden's mandate.
WISCONSIN — Some Wisconsin businesses will fine or fire their employees if they choose to stay unvaccinated after President Joe Biden issued a mandate for employers in early September.
Mercyhealth, a health system with locations in Wisconsin and Illinois, gave its employees the choice to get vaccinated or pay a monthly fee for "additional risk and added cost" to the company for being unvaccinated, the health system said.
The health system's new policy will assess a monthly fee that ranges from $60 to $265 per month for unvaccinated employees, based on their salary.
Find out what's happening in Across Wisconsinfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
"A corollary example is 16-year-old drivers having to pay higher insurance costs because they make up a higher risk pool for losses to the insurance company," Mercyhealth said.
Unvaccinated employees would also have to take weekly virus tests and wear a mask at all times, even when they don't have to face patients.
Find out what's happening in Across Wisconsinfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
The Wisconsin Center District, a government body that operates the Miller High Life Theatre and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panther Arena, gave its employees a Nov. 1 deadline to get vaccinated against COVID-19 or the group will consider it a "voluntary resignation," the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
Northwestern Mutual is the first non-health care business in Milwaukee to require its employees to be vaccinated, CBS 58 reported. The company issued the order Aug. 6 for its 2,200 employees in Milwaukee, Franklin and New York. Employees who weren't vaccinated by Aug. 11 were required to work from home.
Biden's Sept. 9 order mandated that all employers with more than 100 workers require their employees get vaccinated against COVID-19 or submit to weekly virus tests, The Associated Press reported. The mandate will affect roughly 80 million Americans.
Milwaukee Public Schools and the city of Milwaukee both required their employees to get vaccinated. If city and school employees aren't vaccinated by late October and early November, they face unpaid leave and eventual termination.
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