Mother’s, CVM impose vaccine mandate
Published:Wednesday | September 8, 2021 | 12:11 AM
The rapid spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19 locally has pushed at least two companies to step up their vaccine requirements, mandating that employees get inoculated or present a negative test weekly, at their expense.
In a letter to staff on Monday, Shamena Khan, CEO of local television station CVM, indicated that the new requirement was non-negotiable, as Jamaica’s latest COVID-19 count showed that 837 new infections and nine additional deaths were recorded on Monday.
“Effective September 20, 2021, anyone who is unvaccinated will be required to produce a negative COVID-19 test at their expense each Monday to HR (human resource) department before the start of shift or resumption of work.
“Anyone not producing the required test will be asked to leave the building and pay will be deducted for non-work – this applies to both contract for services and full-time employees,” Khan said in the letter.
“There will be no exceptions unless a certified medical report is provided to HR, exempting the person due to medical conditions,” the letter from the CEO warned.
The new measure is expected to take effect in two weeks.
Meanwhile, employees of fast food franchise Mother’s have until Friday, September 17, to get their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
This ultimatum was delivered by way of a letter from Managing Director Carlysle Hudson on Friday, September 3.
The letter said that a further review of the company’s status would be done in the following 14 days to determine conformity. Mother’s warned that if a staff first-dose benchmark of at least 50 per cent was not achieved, tougher measures loomed.
The correspondence also said that despite safety measures implemented by Mother’s, the fast-food chain has seen an increase in positive cases.
Efforts to get a comment from Hudson were unsuccessful as calls to his phone went to voicemail.
In an interview with The Gleaner on Monday, president of the Jamaica Employers’ Federation, David Wan, called for the Holness administration to lead from the front on a clear workplace vaccination policy.