While the Omicron variant is highly contagious, Next, Ikea, Morrisons, Ocado and other companies in the UK have opted to provide less compensation to their unvaccinated employees forced into self-isolation due to Covid-19, so to encourage them to have the serum administered and to reduce their costs related to the pandemic.
The Swedish furniture giant Ikea thus underlines in a press release that for absences linked to the virus, “employees vaccinated or not vaccinated for specific reasons such as pregnancy or other medical reasons receive their full pay”.
Sanctions on a case-by-case basis
On the other hand, apart from these special cases, the non-vaccinated only receive full coverage if they test positive. If they have to isolate themselves because they are contact cases, they only receive the legal minimum (Statutory Sick Pay, or SSP), which is much lower. "We know that this is a very sensitive subject" and "that there are many different circumstances", which will be examined on a case-by-case basis, tempers the group in its press release.
Clothing chain Next, online food retailer Ocado and Morrisons supermarkets told AFP they are granting the company's current "sick pay" for all employees who test positive for Covid-19, but the legal minimum (SSP) for non-vaccinated people - except in special circumstances - forced to isolate themselves because they are contact cases.
The SSP amounts to 96.35 pounds (115 euros) per week, while Morrisons employees receive, for example, 10 pounds per hour of work.
Ten days of isolation for non-vaccinated contact cases
Millions of Britons find themselves in contact with people who tested positive for Covid.
Currently, unvaccinated contact cases not benefiting from specific exemptions are required to self-isolate for ten days after their last interaction with the person who tested positive for Covid.
Read alsoHas the UK really reached the peak of its Omicron wave?
Large American companies had for their part started to tighten the screw last summer by making vaccination compulsory for their employees, and even their customers.
Large groups such as Google, Facebook, then Uber, had thus officially prohibited their premises to employees without a complete vaccination schedule.
In December, Google had also notified its employees that their salary would no longer be paid and that they could even be fired if they did not declare their vaccination status beyond a certain date, according to an internal document consulted by CNBC.
