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Delta Air Lines to impose monthly surcharge on unvaccinated workers

25 August 2021
Dan Ackermann

Delta Air Lines will impose a monthly $200 surcharge on unvaccinated employees and require them to get weekly COVID tests, CEO Ed Bastian announced in a memo Wednesday.

Why it matters: The move makes Delta the first major U.S. company to impose a monetary penalty on workers who choose to remain unvaccinated, according to Bloomberg.

Driving the news: While 75% of Delta employees are vaccinated, the move is intended to increase vaccination amid heightened concern over the "very aggressive" Delta variant, Bastian said in the memo.

Details: Beginning Sept. 12, unvaccinated employees will be required to take weekly COVID-19 tests so long as case rates remain high.

  • Starting Sept. 30, "COVID pay protection will only be provided to fully vaccinated individuals who are experiencing a breakthrough infection," Bastian added.
  • Starting Nov. 1, unvaccinated employees enrolled in Delta's health care plan will receive $200 monthly surcharges to offset the "financial risk" that remaining unvaccinated creates for the company due to the high costs of hospital COVID-19 care.
  • Delta Air Lines is also imposing an indoor mask mandate for unvaccinated employees effective immediately.

What they're saying: "While we are grateful for the progress we’ve made, the most recent virus variants make it clear that more work remains ahead," Bastian said.

  • "I know some of you may be taking a wait-and-see approach or waiting for full FDA approval. With this week’s announcement that the FDA has granted full approval for the Pfizer vaccine, the time for you to get vaccinated is now."
  • "Protecting yourself, your colleagues, your loved ones and your community is fundamental to the shared values that have driven our success for nearly a century."

The big picture: The new measures stopped short of a full vaccine mandate like the one imposed by United Airlines earlier this month.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.