Intel Encourages All Employees To Have Vaccination

JAKARTA - Given that the COVID-19 pandemic is still in high numbers, the semiconductor company, Intel warns all of its employees to immediately vaccinate before January 4, 2022.

If employees do not comply with the company's demands, then when they apply for leave, Intel is reluctant to pay their salaries. Intel's goal of making vaccines mandatory for its employees is to comply with US President Joe Biden's vaccine mandate for companies with more than 100 employees.

However, federal courts are still debating whether a large mandate like this is constitutional. "We are closely monitoring the legal environment and hope it will take time for the case in Georgia, as well as other similar cases, to be fully resolved," Intel said in a statement.

Intel's Chief People Officer, Christy Pambianchi, said employees who had not been vaccinated by the time allotted had to undergo a weekly COVID-19 test procedure, whether they were working at the company or remotely, as quoted from Tom's Hardware, Thursday, December 23.

The weekly testing phase will end on April 4, 2022. At that time, companies will transition unvaccinated employees to an unpaid leave of up to three months.

"Of course, employees can request an exemption from vaccination on religious or health-related grounds. The company will also accept exception requests until March 15, 2022," said Pambianchi.

Pambianchi also said that Intel will evaluate options throughout the first quarter of 2022. In this case, Intel is one of the technology companies that has implemented mandatory vaccines for its employees.

According to The Verge, Google recently started cracking down on employees who weren't vaccinated and imposed 30 days of administrative leave if they failed to get vaccinated or applied for an exemption by January 13.

If they are still not vaccinated after 30 days have elapsed, they can be subject to unpaid leave and even termination of employment, unlike at Intel.

Likewise Facebook and Microsoft, both also have vaccine mandates, they require employees to be vaccinated before their offices reopen.