Google told its US staff that they must be vaccinated against Covid- 19 by the middle of January or face serious repercussions including a pay cut and ultimately the loss of their job.
The memo obtained by CNBC, which first reported the story, told employees that they had to have declared their vaccination status and uploaded proof of it, or to have applied for a medical or religious exemption by December 3rd.
After that date, Google said it would contact workers who were unvaccinated or had not uploaded proof of vaccination, or whose exemption requests had not been approved.
According to the memo, employees who missed the deadline of January 18 would be placed on paid administrative leave for 30 days, followed by six months of unpaid personal leave.
Google is one of several large US employers that have a no jab, no job policy for their workforce, although it seems to have gone a step further than some other firms. Google didn't respond to a request for comment.
It had already informed its US workforce that they would need to be vaccinated to return to its corporate buildings. Sundar Pichai, chief executive, told staff in a memo in July that the policy would initially be implemented in the US before being adopted globally. Other US tech companies, including Uber and Facebook, have required a vaccine.
Large American corporations have shown that they are more likely to adopt a mandatory vaccination policy than their British counterparts. The US government has ordered companies with more than 100 staff to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or regularly tested for Covid by January 18th.
British employers are treading cautiously because of the protection of UK workers in law. Employment lawyers said that many companies and organisations feared unfair dismissal of staff and discrimination, and therefore decided to make vaccination a personal choice.
The UK government had to pass legislation to require care homes to make sure all workers in England were fully vaccinated unless they had a medical exemption.
US financial firms were among the most enthusiastic about bringing workers back to the office and also among the first to tell their teams that only fully vaccinated staff could return to their headquarters during the summer.
On Tuesday, Wall Street bank JPMorgan told its staff that they were required to work from home due to concerns over the spread of the Omicron variant. It had previously allowed unvaccinated staff to work from a New York building provided they were tested twice a week, according to a report that was first reported by Reuters.
In a memo from the bank, the bank asked employees to get a booster vaccine, and asked them to take up the offer of a jab.