A whistleblower inside T-Mobile came forward to PJ Media and provided documentation showing that the cellular giant has decided to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for almost all of its employees or they will be terminated on April 2, 2022.
An email was sent out on Friday, Jan. 28 from Deeanne King, chief human resources director (who lists her pronouns in her email signature), announcing the new company-wide mandate for forced vaccination.
Data clearly and consistently shows that vaccines offer our best chance at preventing illness, serious illness, and death from COVID-19. With the wellbeing of our community top of mind, we’re asking everyone at T-Mobile to be fully vaccinated by April 2, which includes uploading proof of vaccination into our Cleared4 online tool and obtaining a digital “Magenta Pass”. This policy applies to all job classifications who need regular or occasional access to our vaccinated, badge-controlled office spaces – flexible resident, hybrid and mostly remote. That means it includes everyone at T-Mobile, with the exception of a few job titles like Retail Mobile Expert and Field Technician roles. You can find the full list here.
Employees who have not yet taken action to receive their first dose and upload proof by February 21 will be placed on unpaid leave. Affected employees who do not become fully vaccinated and obtain a Magenta Pass by April 2 will be separated from T-Mobile. Those employees who have a pending or approved medical or religious accommodation or state-specific exemption through the HR process are excluded from this action for the duration of their pending or approved accommodation or exemption.
Employees who work in retail locations are exempted from the mandate because the company “cannot control access and interaction with the public.” But remote employees who work from home still have to be vaccinated or get fired. T-Mobile issued a Frequently Asked Questions document that has corporate excuses for every objection under the sun.
Yes, even employees who are categorized as Mostly Remote must be vaccinated (except those with an approved accommodation or state law exemption) as they will be expected to visit T-Mobile office locations from time to time for team meetings, trainings, and other business events. Employees who are not vaccinated (because their role is excepted or they have an accommodation or state law exemption) will not be able to visit office locations where vaccines are required.
T-Mobile has also decided to require that all vendors and visitors to their offices also be vaccinated.
Our offices remain vaccinated-only, and this policy extends to any NTWs, vendors, suppliers and visitors who may enter our offices. We have developed a process for those companies to attest to their employees’ vaccination status. NTWs have been notified of T-Mobile’s vaccination-only offices policy by their supplier and must be fully vaccinated to enter our offices during business hours. Note that if you are a hiring manager of a NTW, you may need to temporarily allow for offsite work by your NTW until their vaccine status is attested to by their employer.
I wonder how they’re going to accept or send packages from UPS or FedEx. Neither carrier has mandated vaccines for all employees. UPS has opted to mandate vaccines in some offices but has not issued vaccine requirements for truck drivers, probably because of fears of a strike. FedEx hasn’t mandated vaccines for any employees. Companies like T-Mobile that think they can demand other companies force-vaccinate their employees in order to do business with them are going to be sorely disappointed (as well as missing out on their shipments).
Related: Starbucks Drops Vax Mandate and Faces Calls for Boycott
T-Mobile is also refusing to accept any liability if their employees get injured by the COVID-19 vaccine. On their FAQs they try to argue that vaccination is a personal decision — but if you don’t do it, you’re fired!
25. Are you accepting liability if I get vaccinated at your requirement and have an adverse reaction?
We have great confidence in the safety of the vaccines, but the ultimate decision as to whether to get vaccinated is yours.
26. If I experience a side-effect of the vaccine and need time off, will T-Mobile pay for it?
T-Mobile has generous Paid Time Off and Short-Term Disability/Long-Term Disability available. Please talk to your HR Business Partner if this need arises.
It gets even more Orwellian that that. Employees are required to upload their vaccination status to a Google cloudbased app. Any employee, even if vaccinated, who does not want private medical information on the cloud will be fired.
49. I’m vaccinated but don’t want to upload my information in the tool. Is there an alternative?
No, we are requiring all employees to upload their proof of vaccination to the tool. Employees who fail to do so and who do not have an approved medical or religious accommodation by April 2 will be separated.
Further down the FAQs, I found this gem. It seems the offices aren’t exactly “unvaccinated free” after all, because of labor shortages. Labor shortages means the risk of having an unvaccinated cleaning staff is worth it to T-Mobile.
65. Are there exceptions that would allow unvaccinated individuals to access our vaccinated only office?
Any exceptions granted will be limited duration in nature and we will seek to confine the unvaccinated individuals’ access to outside of normal business hours. For example, given labor shortages and high demand for vaccinated workers, overnight janitorial services may be completed by unvaccinated individuals.
With the difficulty companies are having filling open jobs, it seems risky to demand people get a highly controversial vaccine in order to continue employment when there are companies out there not requiring the jab. The federal mandate was stricken down and so companies do not have the weight of the state behind them when they make decisions like this. The coming lawsuits should be interesting to watch. But as we’ve seen in blue states, carefully selected judges will make whatever decisions Democrats want them to make in favor of unconstitutional mandates.
PJ Media reached out to T-Mobile with some questions but they did not respond by the time of publishing. If they do, we will update our report.
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