Shell Weighs COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate, Firing Staff Who Resist – Ft

Shell Considers COVID-19 Vaccine Mandate, May Fire Non-Compliant Staff

(Reuters) – Royal Dutch Shell Plc is weighing whether to mandate COVID-19 vaccines for employees and firing those who refuse to comply, the Financial Times reported https://www.ft.com/content/a4edfefb-4fba-46d9-bef3-2cfdba57bdb3 on Wednesday.

The oil major outlined a case for “selective vaccine mandates” initially at offshore and other remote locations, where staff live and work, and where World Health Organization-approved vaccines were available, the Financial Times said, citing an internal memo sent to Shell’s executive committee.

The memo, dated Sept. 1, also said employees in other parts of the business could be subjected to mandatory vaccination “over time”, according to the newspaper.

The document states that while “all reasonable efforts” would be made to avoid terminating employment of staff who refuse to comply with the vaccine mandate, the company “will be faced with no alternative but to do so”, FT reported.

Shell declined to comment on the report.

Many companies have come out with mask mandates and changed their vaccination policies amid a resurgence in COVID-19 cases, spurred by the highly contagious Delta coronavirus variant.

(Reporting by Arathy S Nair and Aishwarya Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Amy Caren Daniel)