T-Mobile Boldly Threatens To Terminate Corporate Employees That Aren’t COVID Vaccinated

Corporate employees at T-Mobile have just received the strongest encouragement ever to get vaccinated against COVID-19: Get vaccinated or get fired. There are exceptions to the rule, but by and large, any employees who need “regular or occasional” access to T-Mobile’s offices are mandated to be fully vaccinated by April 2, 2022.

This isn’t the first time T-Mobile has made bold moves. Over the past two years, the company has been hitting the federal radio frequency auctions hard and heavy. It’s nearly doubled the availability of its mid-band 2.5GHz 5G spectrum, which offers customers speeds of up to 1Gbps. T-Mobile is also what may be the only US carrier to offer an unlimited 5G plan that doesn’t throttle your speeds.

Even though the idea of a federal vaccine requirements for workplaces with more than 100 employees has dissolved, many employers are still mandating the shots against COVID-19 anyways. The surge of omicron-variant cases and public pressure makes it a given for many companies to do so.

Even so, T-Mobile may be one of the largest corporations to take this bold of a step. Effectively, the Un-carrier is telling its corporate staff to get their COVID-19 vaccine or become Un-employees. In a leaked internal memo, the company advised office employees in a memo that if they do not get the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by Feb. 21, they will be placed on unpaid leave.

The memo also explains that the rules will differ for those in customer service centers to “avoid impact to customer experience.” In-store retail employees and field technicians won’t be affected by the rules at all, but T-Mobile is still encouraging the shots and regular testing.

Any “affected employees who do not become fully vaccinated and obtain a Magenta Pass by April 2 will be separated from T-Mobile,” according to the memo from T-Mobile’s chief HR officer, Deanne King. The “Magenta Pass” is an internal digital pass at the company that requires proof of vaccination.

King did point out the corporation will make exceptions for employees who have valid medical and/or religious reasons to remain unvaccinated. A statement obtained by Bloomberg confirms what we already knew from the leaked memo.

“T-Mobile’s badge-controlled offices continue to be accessible only to those who are vaccinated against Covid-19 and we have shared with employees that we are requiring office workers to be fully vaccinated by April 2.”