Walmart Returns Some Mask Mandates, and NYT Delays Return to Office - The New York Times

The Walt Disney Company and Walmart announced on Friday new requirements that some employees be vaccinated, as the contagious Delta variant continued to cause a surge in coronavirus cases and companies tightened their pandemic restrictions.

Disney said salaried and nonunion hourly U.S. employees at its sites must be fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated workers who are already on site will have 60 days to get the immunization, and new hires will be required to be fully vaccinated before starting work. Disney said it had also begun conversations with its unions about mandatory vaccinations.

Walmart, the nation’s largest private employer, with nearly 1.6 million workers, said vaccines would be mandatory for employees in its headquarters and for managers who traveled in the United States. The mandate does not apply to employees in stores, clubs, and distribution and fulfillment centers, the company’s chief executive, Doug McMillon, said in a memo on Friday. The retailer also said it was doubling its reward to employees who get vaccinated to $150.

Walmart did not provide the number of employees covered by the mandate, but it previously said it planned to house up to 17,000 workers in its new headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.

Walmart said employees in areas with substantial transmission rates would be required to wear masks; it had allowed vaccinated workers to go maskless after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed mask guidance in May.

The grocery giant Kroger, too, said it was reinstating mask requirements for associates in some areas. And starting Monday, the Florida-based grocery chain Publix will require employees to wear masks in all of its stores regardless of their vaccination status.

Also on Friday, The New York Times Company indefinitely postponed its planned return to the office. The company, which employs about 4,700 people, had been planning for workers to start to return, for at least three days a week, in September. Meredith Kopit Levien, the company’s chief executive, said its offices would remain open for those who wanted to go in voluntarily, with a mandatory proof of vaccination.

The Washington Post said this week that it would require all employees to show they were vaccinated as a condition of employment. Uber said it would require all employees to be vaccinated and delayed its return to the office. Lyft said it would not require employees to return to the office until February.

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Walmart Returns Some Mask Mandates, and NYT Delays Return to Office - The New York Times
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