American Airlines Sets Employee Vaccination Deadline

American Airlines employees have little more than five weeks to comply with the company mandate to receive a COVID-19 vaccination or face termination.

The airline said that those who decline to get inoculated by November 24 – the day before Thanksgiving – are subject to firing.

Airlines have little to no choice in the matter. President Joe Biden has ordered that all federal contractors, which most domestic carriers are, must be fully vaccinated by December 8.

“The federal vaccine mandate requires that all of American’s U.S.-based team members and certain international crew members be vaccinated, without the provision of a regular testing alternative,” American Airlines CEO Doug Parker and President Robert Isom wrote in a letter to employees on Friday, according to Fox Business News. “While we are still working through the details of the federal requirements, it is clear that team members who choose to remain unvaccinated will not be able to work at American Airlines.”

Prior to Biden’s mandate, Parker told The New York Times that he was in favor of offering incentives to vaccinated employees, “but we’re not putting mandates in place.”

According to the Washington D.C.-based publication The Hill, which covers all government news, part of the letter sent out to employees reiterated the emphasis on threat of job loss.

“To be clear, if you fail to comply with the requirement, the result will be termination from the company,” American said in its note.

American Airlines did note two exceptions to the federal vaccine mandate, including medical exemptions and religious exemptions.

United Airlines in August became the first airline to mandate a vaccine for all employees, well before the Biden decree. CEO Scott Kirby said recently he felt it was “the right thing to do.”