Walmart amends covid leave policy
Walmart Inc.’s decision to cut its pandemic-related paidleave policy in light of new federal quarantine guidelines will likely set a precedent for other retailers, industry experts say.
A memo distributed to employees this week said Walmart will continue through March 31 to provide paid leave to workers who test positive for covid-19; fail the company’s daily health screening; or are mandated to quarantine by a health care provider, government or Walmart.
However, the memo said the company has “updated” its covid-19 emergency leave policy by cutting paid leave in these instances from two weeks to one.
A company spokeswoman said in an email that employees who contract the virus and are unable to return to work after that week of emergency leave “may be eligible for additional pay replacement for up to 26 weeks.”
The memo refers workers to its employee website to look at their other pay options.
Chief People Officer Donna Morris and Chief Medical Officer John Wig said in the memo that the policy change aligns with current guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention. The federal agency said late last month that it was shortening its recommended isolation time for people with covid-19 from 10 days to five.
After that period, the CDC said, patients who are asymptomatic or go 24 hours without fever should wear a mask for another five days when around others to avoid spreading the virus. The agency was mum on whether these people should show a negative covid-19 test before being allowed out of isolation.
The agency said it based the new guidelines on scientific evidence that indicates most virus transmission occurs in the first day or two before the onset of symptoms and another two to three days after.
Since most Walmart employees, many of whom work
part time, have little sick leave anyway, some may decide to leave for other job opportunities, said Brad Hershbein, senior economist and communications adviser at the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
Some of those who leave may go to work for a competitor such as Amazon, Hershbein said.
“Walmart’s leadership probably thinks the additional number of employees who will quit for these reasons, on top of the normally very high number of people who leave, is a relatively small cost compared to being able to adequately staff stores and warehouses and keep their sales up,” Hershbein said.
The company may also think its competitors will follow its example in cutting employees’ paid leave for covid-19, Hershbein said, which would negate any disadvantage to Walmart.
Carol Spieckerman, a retail
Carol Spieckerman, a retail consultant and president of Spieckerman Retail, said shortening its emergency paid leave policy benefits Walmart both financially and in terms of productivity.
consultant and president of Spieckerman Retail, said shortening its emergency paid leave policy benefits Walmart both financially and in terms of productivity.
The CDC’s revised guidance paved the way for Walmart’s move, “and other retailers can comfortably follow now that Walmart has led the way,” Spieckerman said.
“Over the past few years, Walmart has gotten quite comfortable taking the lead on potentially controversial topics,” Spieckerman said. “In this case, it isn’t having to step out too far.”
In Walmart’s memo, the company said that, in light of the new CDC guidance, it will also change the questions that are part of the daily health screening employees undergo daily before entering a Walmart facility.
Workers have previously been asked each day whether they had received a positive covid-19 test, had symptoms of the illness or been exposed to someone with the virus within the last 10 days. They will now be asked if they’ve experienced any of those things within the previous five days.
Walmart still requires all employees, even those who are fully vaccinated, to wear a wellfitted mask. It will also continue through Jan. 31 to pay a $150 incentive to workers who become fully vaccinated.