Starbucks Corp. SBUX -0.88% said it will no longer require U.S. workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or undergo weekly testing by next month, after the Supreme Court recently blocked the Biden administration’s mandate for large private employers.
Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver said in a message to workers Tuesday that the company is changing its requirements in response to the court’s decision, but will still encourage baristas to get vaccinated and boosted and to disclose their status.
“We continue to believe strongly in the spirit and intent of the mandate,” Mr. Culver said in the message.
The Covid-19 vaccination mandate for companies employing 100 or more people has divided corporate leaders since it was first introduced by the Biden administration last year. Many companies held off implementing vaccine or testing policies while the issue played out in the court system. The Supreme Court struck down the rule for large employers last week.
Several corporate executives said they would scrap plans to impose vaccine requirements after the decision, while others said they would still require them. Citigroup Inc., for example, is sticking with its Covid-19 vaccine mandate for its U.S. workers, while General Electric Co. suspended its remaining vaccine requirements.
Starbucks said earlier this month that it would require its U.S. employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 or submit to regular testing, becoming one of the first large restaurant chains to take such a step.
The company set a Jan. 10 deadline for vaccination status disclosure by workers in its U.S. cafes, offices and manufacturing plants. It set a Feb. 9 deadline for employees to be vaccinated—or submit to weekly testing.
Mr. Culver said Tuesday that more than 90% of U.S. retail workers have disclosed their vaccination status. The vast majority of U.S. baristas are fully vaccinated, he said in the employee message. The chain employs 230,000 U.S. store workers.
He said Starbucks will continue to encourage workers to disclose their vaccination status going forward.
In a separate message Tuesday, Starbucks said it will now ask all U.S. baristas to isolate with pay if they have had a Covid-19 exposure, regardless of vaccination status. Previously the company had asked baristas who weren’t vaccinated to isolate.
Starbucks said in the message that it understands that the Omicron variant of Covid-19 is limiting hours and service levels at stores, but that both vaccinated and unvaccinated employees are getting exposed or testing positive more often. “It is important that we take some urgent steps to ensure these partners are staying home,” the company said, referring to its employees.
Starbucks last week shifted its isolation period to five days from 10 in response to updated federal guidance.
Starbucks and other restaurants have limited seating and hours as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus sweeps through the U.S., impacting more of their workers. Store managers will continue to modify hours and service at Starbucks locations in response to worker isolations and local Covid-19 mandates, the company said in the message.
To help prevent the Omicron variant’s spread, Starbucks is urging its U.S. workers to wear medical masks, versus cloth facial coverings that many Americans have worn during the pandemic. The company is asking store managers to order the medical three-ply masks and distribute them to workers.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its guidance on masks last week, saying that N95 and KN95 masks are more protective than cloth masks in some settings.
Write to Heather Haddon at [email protected]
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Appeared in the January 20, 2022, print edition as ‘Starbucks Drops Vaccine, Test Rule.’
