Kroger ends some benefits for unvaccinated employees

Company adds health-care surcharge for some of them

Kroger, one of the country’s biggest grocers, is doing away with some COVID-era benefits for unvaccinated employees as part of its push to encourage “safe behaviors” among its roughly 465,000 workers.

The two weeks of paid emergency leave that Kroger has been offering to employees who contract COVID-19 will no longer be extended to the unvaccinated, unless local jurisdictions require otherwise, Kroger told The Washington Post in an email. Workers can still use earned paid time off or apply for unpaid leave.

Additionally, salaried employees who are unvaccinated and enrolled in company health-care plans will also see a monthly $50 surcharge on their accounts starting Jan. 1. The company will continue to reward workers who get the vaccine with a one-time, $100 payment.

“The administration of the vaccine to our associates has been an integral part of our efforts and continues to be a focus,” Kroger said in the statement emailed to The Post. “As we prepare to navigate the next phase of the pandemic, we are modifying policies to encourage safe behaviors including vaccination.”

The move, first reported by the Wall Street Journal, comes as businesses around the country confront the complications of federal vaccination mandates, which are facing formidable legal challenges.

President Joe Biden’s vaccine mandate, which requires medium and large employers to vaccinate workers or require weekly coronavirus testing by early January, is in limbo after a federal appeals court temporarily halted it in November.

Challenges could take it all the way to the Supreme Court.

If the mandate is struck down, it will likely deal a major blow to workforce vaccination efforts. A survey published this week by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 75 percent of businesses would not pursue mandatory vaccination or weekly testing if the mandate is overturned.