CNN fired three employees who violated its Covid safety protocols by going to the office unvaccinated, the company said Thursday. It's one of the first known examples of a major U.S. corporation terminating workers for ignoring a workplace vaccine mandate.
News media company CNN has terminated three of its employees for coming to the office unvaccinated against the COVID-19 last week, according to a memo sent to staff internally on Thursday.
In the note seen by Reuters, President Jeff Zucker told employees that the company has a zero-tolerance policy on such instances and required its employees to be vaccinated to come to the office or to work on the field with other employees.
"Everyone from news, sports, and studios who comes in now and going forward must be vaccinated. We have been clear about this for months, so there should be no confusion," according to the memo.
Showing proof of vaccination may now become a formal part of the process to enter the office, CNN said, as against an honor system earlier.
Besides, CNN has decided to postpone the Sept. 7 return date in the U.S. to around mid-October due to the increase in COVID-19 cases across the country and has mandated masks in its Los Angeles, Washington DC, and Atlanta workspaces, Zucker said in the note.
It, however, didn't disclose the office location where the incident took place.
CNN has fired 3 employees for coming to work unvaccinated, a violation of company policy. "Let me be clear — we have a zero tolerance policy on this,' network chief Jeff Zucker said in a staff memo.https://t.co/2w4DYSLn00
— NPR (@NPR) August 6, 2021
