Without Covid-19 booster, Facebook will not let employees return back to office

Facebook's parent company, Meta, has postponed its return to the office. Not only has Facebook's intention to summon employees back to work been postponed. The booster shot is also required by the Meta-owned corporation. Facebook had previously stated that the workplace would reopen on January 31. Due to an increase in Omicron cases, the date has been pushed back to March 28.

Facebook has previously introduced an office deferral scheme that allows employees to return to work whenever they want. As a result, for those who want to work from home, the new reopening date is March 28, not January 31, as previously announced. "We recognize that some employees aren't quite ready to come back. We continue to offer a variety of options to choose what works best for them, so our employees can make informed decisions about where they work," said Janelle Gale, vice president, human resources of the company.

Employees, on the other hand, will now be required to produce confirmation of a Covid booster shot before being allowed to access the premises. Meta also wants to vaccinate all of its employees in the United States against Covid. According to Reuters, Facebook employees have until March 14 to determine whether or not they wish to work from home. If they don't want to work from home full-time, they can seek to work from home temporarily.

Employees who are unable to be vaccinated owing to medical or religious reasons may seek to work from home, either temporarily or permanently. "Employees who take no action can face disciplinary measures, including termination. Obviously, this would be a last resort," the Facebook spokesperson said in an email.

Google had previously stated that employees who have not been immunised against Covid-19 will face severe consequences. Employees who do not comply with the vaccination guidelines by January 18 will be placed on "paid administrative leave" for 30 days, according to a document distributed by Google to its employees. They will be placed on "unpaid personal leave" for six months after that. They will be asked to leave the company if they do not get vaccinated.

"As we've stated before, our vaccination requirements are one of the most important ways we can keep our workforce safe and keep our services running. We're committed to doing everything possible to help our employees who can get vaccinated do so, and firmly stand behind our vaccination policy," company spokesperson Lora Lee Erickson had told The Verge