The company requires almost all of its 75,000 employees in the United States to be vaccinated against the coronavirus.
San Francisco The mobile phone company T-Mobile US wants to lay off unvaccinated employees, who the company had initially released unpaid, now. The company announced this in an internal e-mail to the staff, the letter is available to the Handelsblatt. A company spokeswoman confirmed that employees would have to provide proof of valid vaccinations against the coronavirus by April 2.
“We understand that this is a very personal decision for some employees,” the T-Mobile spokeswoman said. Nevertheless, the company is convinced that compulsory vaccination is the best way to protect the entire workforce. The company did not comment on the specific number of redundancies, explaining: “This will only affect a small percentage of employees.“ The company employs, as of the end of 2021, about 75,000 people.
Within the company, the topic of compulsory vaccination is controversially discussed. There is an understanding of the decision of the management. A T-Mobile employee told Handelsblatt that he thinks the vaccination obligation is right: “I would not want to work with an opponent of vaccination.“
Roger Entner, founder of the telecommunications specialist Recon Analytics, suspects that layoffs related to compulsory vaccination might even help to reduce staff. Due to the merger of T-Mobile with rival Sprint last year, the company has filled some positions twice. Regardless of this, he believes that compulsory vaccination is the right decision: “The facts regarding vaccination are clear. If someone still refuses today, you have to ask yourself whether they can then make the right decisions for the company at work.“
Mandatory vaccination by law in the USA failed
Several companies, such as the coffee chain Starbucks, the airline United Airlines or the technology group General Electric, had initially announced mandatory vaccinations for their employees, but later backed out.US President Joe Biden had tried to implement a mandatory vaccination for employees of large corporations by law. However, the plan had been stopped by the United States Supreme Court.
In Germany, Deutsche Telekom operated 18 vaccination centers. “Deutsche Telekom has always been in favor of vaccination,” said a company spokesman. A total of 50,000 doses of vaccine had been administered through the centers and other locations. “We are convinced that consistent vaccination will lead to an end to the pandemic situation,” the spokesman said.
There is no mandatory vaccination according to the example of the USA in Germany. “The legal framework is different, so the question does not arise,” the spokesman said. Contrary to the announcement of the federal government, a general vaccination obligation for all adults has not yet found a majority in the Bundestag.
In the USA, T-Mobile has recently been experiencing staff unrest. CEO Mike Sievert has initiated a restructuring of the management team after complaints about customer service at the company accumulated. Sievert then exchanged the responsible post. Longtime T-Mobile executive Jon Freier is now leading the division.
More: Despite the promise of data protection: Deutsche Telekom sells private data of its customers in the USA.
