Kroger Cuts a Key Benefit for Unvaccinated Workers

To boost employee vaccination rates earlier this year, Kroger used the carrot—a $100 bonus for every fully vaccinated worker. Now, it's going for the stick. The grocery giant says it will end some benefits for unvaccinated employees and bring in insurance surcharges as of Jan. 1, the New York Times reports. The company confirmed Wednesday that two weeks of paid time off for employees infected with COVID-19, a benefit it started offering last year, will no longer be available to unvaccinated workers. Managers and other salaried workers enrolled in company health care plans will also have to pay a $50 monthly surcharge if they're unvaccinated, Kroger says, though the charge won't apply to hourly workers or union members.

"As we prepare to navigate the next phase of the pandemic, we are modifying policies to encourage safe behaviors including vaccination, which we continue to incentivize with a $100 payment for all fully vaccinated associates," a Kroger spokesperson tells CBS. "The special leave will remain available to fully vaccinated associates who may have breakthrough cases." The company is one of America's biggest employers, with around 500,000 full-time and part-time workers, the Wall Street Journal notes. The Biden administration's vaccine mandate for large employers is on hold during court challenges.

When White House press secretary Jen Psaki was asked about Kroger's new policies, she said, "Different private sector companies and entities are going to take different steps to incentivize people to get vaccinated" and stressed that Kroger's plan didn't come from the White House. Analysts say health plan surcharges appear to be an effective way to boost vaccination rates, though Molly Kinder at the Brookings Institution's Metropolitan Policy Program tells the Journal that taking away paid COVID leave could be a risky move. She says unvaccinated hourly workers who can't afford to take time off might end up coming to work while infected. (Earlier this year, Kroger closed two stores in Seattle after a new law required the chain to give workers hazard pay.)