Boeing says unvaccinated workers face termination

Boeing sent an internal message to all of its U.S. employees Tuesday announcing that they must either get vaccinated against COVID-19 or face termination.

The aircraft maker said that employees will have until Dec. 8 to get vaccinated and it is only allowing limited exceptions, according to The Seattle Times.

“Compliance with these requirements is a condition of employment,” Boeing stated in an internal presentation viewed by The Seattle Times. “Employees who are unable to meet these requirements, and do not have an approved accommodation, by December 8 may be released from the company.”

Boeing is allowing employees the option to request an exemption from getting the vaccine if they have “a disability or sincerely held religious belief,” according to The Seattle Times.

In those cases, employees will be frequently tested for COVID-19 and will have to provide a negative test upon request, Boeing told the news outlet.

The company said the move comes in response to President Biden’s executive order requiring COVID-19 vaccine mandates for companies that are contractors and subcontractors of the federal government.

“If you want to do business with the fed government, get your workers vaccinated,” Biden said when he announced the move in July.

Boeing is among several other companies that have moved to implement some form of vaccine mandate in recent months. A poll revealed just last month that two-thirds of business leaders support Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine-or-test mandate for private companies.

Boeing’s nearly 125,000 employees in the U.S. will be affected by the new mandate, The Seattle Times reported.