John Lewis pledge to unjabbed

JOHN Lewis has moved to distance itself from high street rivals and reassure staff it will offer sick pay regardless of their Covid vaccination status.

A string of retailers including Ikea, Morrisons, Next and Ocado have introduced policies which limit sick pay for unjabbed employees who have to self-isolate.

In a blog post, John Lewis group operations director Andrew Murphy told staff – whom it calls partners – across its department stores and Waitrose grocers: ‘We just don’t believe it’s right to create a link between a partner’s vaccination status and the pay they receive.

‘When life increasingly seems to present opportunities to create division – and with hopes rising that the pandemic phase of Covid may be coming to an end – we’re confident that this is the right approach.’

He said John Lewis ‘cast no judgment’ on other businesses and that the pandemic had often left firms with ‘just a choice between a range of unappealing options’.