Southwest Airlines is dropping plans to put medics who are waiting to be approved for medical or religious exemption on unpaid leave in December.
Instead, employees whose accommodations weren't approved or reviewed by December 8 will have to keep working.
The employee will continue to work, while following all COVID mask and distancing Guidelines applicable to their position, until the accommodation has been processed according to an internal note sent to employees and obtained by FOX Business.
Earlier this month, Southwest became the latest airline to require its employees to get inoculated by Dec. 8 and still gave employees the option to apply for medical exemptions or religious exemptions.
The Texas-based carrier has begun mandating vaccinations for its 54,000 employees in order to comply with the new rules from the Biden administration requiring companies with federal contracts to have a fully vaccinated staff.
I encourage all Southwest Employees to meet the federal directive as quickly as possible, since we value every individual and want to ensure job security for all, CEO Gary Kelly said in a statement earlier this month.
The carrier said it still intends to grant valid requests for medical exemptions.
However, in the case that a request is not granted, Southwest told employees that it would provide adequate time for an employee to be fully vaccinated while continuing to work and adhering to safety protocols. Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue are also requiring the employees to be vaccinated. In August, United Airlines became the first major airline that did so. Since then the airline says that more than 97% of its workers have been vaccinated. United also said it would put personnel who couldn t get the shots due to health or religious reasons on unpaid leave until COVID 19 rates go down.