Amazon Cuts Paid Leave Time for Workers With COVID

Amazon will be cutting paid leave time for the front-line workers in the U.S. who test positive for COVID-19, CNBC reported Friday (Jan. 7).

Those workers will now be eligible for a week, or up to 40 hours, of paid leave — a change from the previous offer of two weeks for any employee quarantining or diagnosed with the virus.

The change comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has also recently shortened its recommended time off to five days for asymptomatic people. Amazon said it was changing the policy after reviewing that guidance.

The CDC’s guidelines also curtailed the amount of time that close contacts should quarantine.

Amazon, along with other companies, has changed their guidelines as the pandemic has evolved. The eCommerce giant also recently put a mask mandate back into place for its U.S. workers, even if they’ve been vaccinated.

This is all going on as the omicron variant, which is more contagious than previous ones, has been surging around the world.

In addition to Amazon, Walmart — the biggest private employer in the nation — has also cut pandemic-related paid leave in half.

PYMNTS wrote about the status of both Amazon and Walmart’s approaches to the pandemic as the new year begins. In addition to dealing with COVID-19 challenges, the companies are also looking at new tech that could potentially help move business quicker in the future.

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For example, Walmart ended up having to shutter and deep clean 60 stores in December 2021 in order to make them safer.

That is around 1.2% of the 5,000 U.S. Walmart locations, although more temporary closures may happen in early 2022 as contagion rates worsen.

On a brighter note, PYMNTS writes that COVID-19 antiviral medications given emergency approval by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are being dispensed at around 15 Walmart pharmacies.