IBM Mandates All U.S. Employees To Be Fully Vaccinated By Dec. 8 Or Face Suspension

(RTTNews) - International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) has told its U.S. employees that they must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 by December 8 or will have to face an unpaid suspension.

The Big Blue's decision is in the light of U.S. President Joe Biden's mandate last month ordering all federal workers and contractors to be vaccinated. IBM is a federal contractor and has tens of thousands of U.S. employees.

"As a federal contractor, it is a business imperative for IBM to comply with this mandate," the company said in a memo sent to employees this week, according to CNBC. "In light of this requirement, the policies of many of our clients and partners, and the easy access to vaccines around the country, we will now require all IBM U.S. employees to be fully vaccinated by December 8, 2021, in order to work at IBM."

IBM had previously said it would allow only fully vaccinated U.S. employees to return to offices. However, the new policy now requires all U.S. employees, including those working from home, to get vaccinated. Those who decline to be vaccinated will not be paid after December 8 until they complete their vaccinations. Meanwhile, some employee can claim exemption from the mandate on medical and religious grounds.

With the Delta variant wreaking havoc in the country, major tech companies including Facebook Inc (FB), Google and Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) have all made it mandatory for employees to get vaccine for coronavirus.