More banks say staff need vaccine
Toronto-dominion Bank, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and Bank of Montreal joined other major financial firms in requiring staff to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 before returning to the office.
All employees of the Toronto-based TD will be asked to register their vaccination status by Sept. 30, according to a memo sent to staff Friday. As of Nov. 1, full vaccination will be required of TD employees working in all company locations globally, a spokesman said.
“We believe that the majority of TD colleagues have already been vaccinated. This is great news,” Kenn Lalonde, chief human resources officer, said in the memo. “However, COVID -19 remains with us and the Delta variant, which is far more contagious, is spreading in our communities, primarily to those who are unvaccinated.”
CIBC and BMO said in internal memos Friday that they were requiring their North American staff to be vaccinated by Oct. 31. On Thursday, Royal Bank of Canada said it would require jabs by the end of October.
Any Toronto-dominion workers who aren't vaccinated or haven't disclosed their vaccination status by Nov. 1 will be required to complete training about the benefits of vaccination, submit to mandatory COVID-19 rapid testing and wear a mask at all times.
TD wouldn't say whether employees who continue to hold out after that deadline would lose their jobs. “Our policy is that employees are required to be fully vaccinated or they will be subjected to stringent additional protocols and restriction,” said Mohammed Nakhooda, a TD spokesman. “We believe that this policy will significantly increase the safety of TD locations ...”
“This is the right thing to do to protect the health and safety of everyone who is working in TD locations, and we are encouraged that many other organizations have taken similar measures,” Lalonde wrote.
Concerns about the highly transmissible Delta variant are causing companies and governments to rethink the safety of allowing unvaccinated employees to return to offices. On Friday, the U.S. extended restrictions on non-essential travel at land and ferry crossings with Canada and Mexico through Sept. 21.