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• Wall Street banks are mandating their employees get vaccines
• 90% of Citigroup’s staff have complied with the rule for U.S. workers, and the number is continuously rising
Citigroup Inc will be the first major Wall Street bank to impose a strict “no-jab, no job” policy as of January 14, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing a message sent to staff.
The report said that employees who don’t comply with the policy will be placed on unpaid leave. Their last day of employment will come at the end of the month.
In its message to staff, Bloomberg also reported that the company said that employees who are eligible for year-end bonuses would have to sign an agreement stating that they won’t pursue legal action against Citigroup to receive the payment.
“You are welcome to apply for other roles at Citi in the future as long as you are compliant with Citi’s vaccination policy,” the company said in the memo.
Bloomberg reported that more than 90% of Citigroup’s staff have complied with the rule for U.S. workers, and the number is continuously rising.
Citi’s warning
Earlier in October, the bank said it would require U.S. employees to be inoculated as a condition of their employment.
At the time, Citi’s head of human resources, Sara Wechter, post said it was complying with the policy of the Biden administration. This policy would require all employees supporting government contracts to be fully vaccinated, as the government remains a “large and important” client of the bank.
Citi will assess exemptions on religious or medical grounds or any other accommodation by state or local law, on a case-to-case basis, the bank said at the time.
Vaccine mandate
The move comes as the financial industry, which has long been planning to get back to business-as-usual, grapples with how to safely bring employees back to the office amid the spread of the highly infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus.
Although Citigroup is the first U.S. bank to enforce a vaccine mandate, other major U.S. companies have introduced “no-jab, no-job” policies, including Google and United Airlines, with varying degrees of stringency.
Picture Credit: FT