Amazon ends COVID paid leave for U.S. workers

WASHINGTON, May 1 (US): Online retailer giant Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) said it will end its paid time off policy for employees with COVID-19 effective May 2, the company said to US-based employees on Saturday. .

The change came after the availability of COVID-19 vaccines and revised guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Amazon told workers in a letter distributed to Reuters that employees based in the United States will now receive five days of exempt, unpaid leave after a COVID-19 diagnosis is confirmed.

“We can continue to safely adapt to our pre-COVID policies,” the company said, citing ongoing mitigation of the pandemic, availability of vaccines and treatments, and updated public health guidelines.

The changes come amid a series of challenges facing Amazon after recent efforts to standardize some of its repositories. In April, workers in its New York City warehouses voted to form the first union.

On Saturday, Amazon said it was halting site-wide notifications of positive cases at facilities, unless required by law, as well as efforts to encourage vaccination.

In January, Amazon reduced paid leave for workers with the virus to one week, or up to 40 hours. Prior to that, they had two weeks of paid leave for COVID-19.

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