Delta Air Lines’ health supplement for vaccines may vary across industries

The airline has stopped mandating vaccinations for its employees. But the move to grant a health premium to unvaccinated workers is not without risk, especially with the unions involved.

The Delta Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents nearly 13,000 of the airline’s pilots, almost immediately expressed concern about the surcharge, saying in a statement that it has advocated “to preserve the right of each individual pilot to or her healthcare provider regarding COVID-19 vaccinations or booster doses.” It went on to say that Delta “must negotiate with the Delta MEC on any employer-mandated vaccination for pilots”.

Vaccine approval opening floodgates

A tidal wave of employers enacted pro-vaccine policies in the wake of the FDA’s approval earlier this week, a sharp pivot from earlier in the pandemic as companies were plagued by concerns about associated regulatory obligations. Attorney Devjani Mishra, who represents employers for law firm Littler Mendelson, attributes the shift to everything that’s happened in the past eight months, besides signing the agencies.

Between people getting comfortable with having first-hand experience with the vaccine and confirmation from a number of different sources, the different public mandates that have come into play for certain industries, everything has made it much more conceivable that you could give an employer a mandate. might have, Misra said.

But implementing a health insurance surcharge is legally much more complicated than mandating the vaccine, Mishra said: There’s a reason there’s a lot of fine print in insurance plans.

Employers have tried that in a number of different areas in the past with different smoking and non-smoking premiums, but the rules around changing insurance premiums are complicated, Mishra said. It is not something to be taken lightly; you really need a benefits attorney to make sure you’re doing it right and following the right rules.

But there were also many exceptions to those rules, she added. So whether it actually achieves the desired result is questionable. As an example, she pointed to individuals who have medical conditions that prevent them from getting the vaccine. There are rules about not discriminating against those people.

Experts say the decision to pressure workers to vaccinate by increasing their health care costs rather than requiring them to get the vaccine will make it easier for employers to rationalize policies for employees who are reluctant to take a chance. to get.

The fact that they didn’t pick a mandate might speak more for their employee base’s sentiment about vaccination and possibly their customer sentiment, said Laura Boudreau, an assistant professor of economics at Columbia Business School who studies working conditions. In fact, if you look at the policy itself, they’re not trying to enforce a de jure mandate, but a de facto one by making it difficult for employees to maintain an unvaccinated statement. Some companies, such as Delta, are reluctant to go so far as to formally mandate, but as we read these memos, these are de facto mandates.

It’s likely additional employers will adopt a similar policy as an easily defensible, middle ground approach to getting their workforces gripped by the Delta variant, not to mention extra.

I do think more companies are adopting this kind of policy, Boudreau said. It’s a very clear rationale that companies can use to explain these kinds of policies to their employees: As with choices like smoking, especially now that the vaccine is fully FDA-approved, it’s possible for the employer to say that these impose costs on workers by maintaining unvaccinated status.

Richard Aboulafia, an airline industry expert, agreed that Delta’s decision is an effective compromise.

“Mandates are politically charged and airlines are struggling with staffing,” said Aboulafia, vice president and analyst at the Teal Group. “But this is a market solution, one that tells airline employees that the costs associated with having unvaccinated employees should not be borne by companies.”

Other moves announced by Bastian on Wednesday include a mask requirement for all workers in indoor environments and an end to Covid-19 wage protection for unvaccinated Delta employees. Unvaccinated workers will also have to undergo weekly Covid-19 testing.

Vaccination mandates are popular with a majority of voters, according to a Morning Consult/POLITICO poll.

Unions get by on mandates

Once divided over vaccine mandates, unions are now largely united in their support for the policy. The country’s two largest teacher unions, AFT and NEA, have backed the idea after initially refusing to support it. And earlier this week, the union representing Walt Disney World’s employees reached an agreement with Disney to demand that all union workers be fully vaccinated by October.

Unions ask employers to negotiate with their employees to agree on the shape of the policy. Several have successfully secured benefits for their members by doing so: The Association of Flight Attendants has negotiated an optional program that will provide three additional vacation days to United Airlines flight attendants who have received the vaccine.

I feel like unions were in a wait-and-see attitude, but more on the legal precedent side, Boudreau said. But for fully approved vaccines, it is very clear that employers can impose vaccines. So I think at this stage, from the unions perspective, it’s more about how to get the employer to commit to making those policies in a way that’s best for their members.