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United Airlines Pilot Says She’s Blocked From Finding Job or Accessing 401k for Refusing Vaccine
A United Airlines captain who is on unpaid leave for not complying with her company’s vaccine mandate says she has been locked out of her 401(k) and is prohibited from finding another job.
“I am out on unpaid leave. I am prohibited from getting another job. I’m prohibited from accessing my 401(k). I have no medical benefits, and I’m leading the charge in this fight, so my days are consumed,” United pilot Sherry Walker, co-founder of Airline Employees 4 Health Freedom, told the Daily Signal while attending the “Defeat the Mandates” march in Washington, D.C., on Sunday.
Walker told Fox Digital on Monday that she is considered an “active employee” after being put on unpaid leave for not complying with the airline’s vaccine mandate in November. “That means that they can call us back with two weeks’ notice at any given time, they can just grab us and pull us back. But because we’re active, we haven’t had a qualified lifestyle change. So Schwab, which owns our 401(k) accounts, refuses to let anyone access them,” Walker told Fox.
Most Major Employers Are Keeping Vaccine Mandate for Workers, Despite Supreme Court Ruling
Many major employers are going ahead with policies to require employees to take steps to combat COVID-19, even if the Supreme Court says they don’t have to do so.
A survey by management consultant Gartner of more than 200 major employers last week found 30% still are requiring or will require their employees to get vaccines. Another 50% have policies in place or in the works to give employees a choice between vaccine or weekly tests. Only 20% are dropping all policies that would require action by their employees.
The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the rule on the larger employers on Jan. 13, and the Biden administration formally dropped the rule Wednesday. Lower federal courts have put the federal contractor mandate on hold. Still, employers are moving ahead with their own policies, as they are free to do even if they can’t be required to do so.
From Amex to Walmart, Here Are the Companies Mandating the COVID Vaccines for Employees
As the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus struck communities nationwide last summer and fall, many companies stepped up their vaccination requirements, mandating that some or all employees get vaccinated or provide proof of vaccination, many doing so even before President Joe Biden announced the government’s own mandates for workers in the U.S.
The Biden administration’s vaccination mandate for federal contractors is on hold, while another for certain healthcare workers remains in place. The government’s mandate for large businesses with 100 or more employees was blocked by the Supreme Court in early January and formally withdrawn by the Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration on Jan. 25.
Here is the latest on the list of the companies that have already announced their vaccination plans:
New York State Mask Mandate Back in Effect as Judge Grants Stay in Appeal
An appeals court judge on Tuesday granted a stay in an appeal over mask mandates in New York, keeping the rule in effect during the legal process, New York Attorney General Letitia James said.
A day earlier, a judge had struck down the state’s mask mandate, one week before it was due to expire. The state attorney general had filed a motion to stay the ruling in an attempt to put it on hold while the state filed a formal appeal.
Justice Robert Miller of the state appeals court temporarily blocked the lower-court ruling, siding with the state.
Thousands of Truckers Are Driving to the Canadian Capital to Protest Federal Vaccine Mandates Some Say Are ‘Destroying’ Their Businesses
Thousands of truckers have been driving to the Canadian capital since Sunday in protest of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate for truckers. Multiple convoys of truckers across Canada are headed to Ottawa with plans to converge at Parliament Hill for a rally on Saturday against vaccination requirements.
As of Wednesday, The Freedom Convoy has raised more than $5.2 million Canadian dollars ($4.1 million US) and gathered over 67,000 donations. However, GoFundMe said on Tuesday that it has frozen the funds until organizers of the effort can provide a detailed spending plan, per their fundraising policies, according to a report from a Vancouver news station.
Canada’s vaccine mandate for truckers was imposed on Jan. 15. The new rules require U.S. truckers to present proof of vaccination in order to cross the border, while Canadian truckers without a vaccine passport are required to quarantine and take a COVID-19 test when they reenter from the U.S. The U.S. imposed a similar mandate on Jan. 22.
Restaurant Reservations in Cities With Vaccine Mandates Tank Compared to Cities Without: OpenTable
Restaurant reservations have plunged in cities with vaccine mandates so far this year compared to pre-pandemic data.
New York City saw a 68% drop in reservations on Jan. 24 compared to 2019 data, OpenTable reported based on online, phone and walk-in reservations. Restaurants in San Francisco have also been battered by sinking reservations, with a 68% decline on Jan. 24.
Both cities have implemented vaccine mandates for anyone dining inside restaurants. Restaurant owners in New York City slammed the mandate when it was rolled out during former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration last year, with one saying they are leading to restaurants “getting killed.”
Missouri GOP, Businesses Divided Over Vaccine Rules
Missouri Republicans and business groups clashed during a Tuesday state House hearing over more than a dozen bills to limit COVID-19 vaccine mandates by employers.
Republican Missouri lawmakers are typically closely aligned with business interests. But business groups, including the influential Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, chafed at GOP proposals to forbid employers from making their workers get vaccinated or risk getting fired.
The legislation highlights Republican divisions over whether to prioritize individual liberties or business freedoms in Missouri, where state laws allow employers to fire staff for almost any reason.
COVID Digest: Austria Lifts Lockdown for the Unvaccinated
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer on Wednesday announced that a lockdown specifically for unvaccinated people is to come to an end next week.
Nehammer said people without a vaccination against the coronavirus can leave their homes from Monday without a good reason. However, they will still be barred from large parts of public life, including restaurants and non-essential retail.
Health Minister Wolfgang Mückstein told a news conference that experts had concluded that the lockdown on the unvaccinated was no longer necessary even as cases soar.
Netherlands Lifts Toughest COVID Curbs With Denmark and France Set to Follow
The Netherlands has lifted its toughest COVID controls, Denmark is to remove all restrictions within days and France will begin easing curbs next week, as many — but not all — EU countries opt to reopen despite record infection numbers.
The moves come as data shows hospital and intensive care admissions are not surging in line with cases, and after the World Health Organization suggested the Omicron variant — which studies show is more contagious but usually less severe for vaccinated people — may signal a new, more manageable phase in the pandemic.
German Lawmakers Debate Possible COVID Vaccine Mandate
Germany’s parliament on Wednesday began a debate on a possible wide-ranging coronavirus vaccine mandate, with three main options on the table so far: obligatory vaccinations for all adults, just for everyone 50 and above, or no mandate at all.
German politicians of all stripes long insisted there would be no vaccine mandate. But the tide turned late last year amid frustration that a large number of holdouts was hampering the country’s fight against COVID-19.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s new coalition government is leaving it up to lawmakers to come up with cross-party vaccination proposals and then vote according to their conscience rather than along party lines.
Google Proposes a New Way to Track People Around the Web. Again.
Google floated a new set of ideas Tuesday for changing how advertising on the Web should work, scrapping and replacing a previous plan that had triggered anger and concern from privacy advocates and government competition regulators alike.
The new system, called Topics, will track users on Google’s Chrome browser and assign them a set of advertising categories, like travel or fitness, based on the sites they visit.
The proposals are part of Google’s master plan to get rid of third-party cookies, the little bits of code that websites drop into people’s browsers that let them follow them around the Web, building detailed profiles of their behavior and continuing to advertise to them long after they leave the site.
Google Drive Is Locking Some People’s Files for No Reason
Issues with the policing of a new Google Drive policy are leading to the suspension of some people’s files without due cause, user complaints suggest.
As we reported last month, Google recently introduced an updated policy for its cloud storage service, whereby files will be automatically flagged and restricted if they are deemed to be in violation of the company’s abuse policies.
Google says the goal is to shield against cybercriminal activity (malware hosting, phishing etc.), copyright abuses, hate speech and more. However, it appears the AI system charged with identifying abuses of the platform is producing false positives that prevent people from sharing their files.
