Google continues to bar ‘unvaccinated’ employees from offices despite CDC guidance

Google is refusing to rescind its vaccine mandate which bars employees who have not been injected with the COVID-19 shots entry to Google offices and gatherings, despite new CDC guidance. Last month, the CDC removed any distinction between the “vaccinated” and “unvaccinated”, recommending the same guidance for both groups. 

Google’s mandate, which was first implemented in December, originally threatened employees with loss of pay or their jobs if they refused the injections. In February, the tech Goliath relaxed its restriction, allowing non-injected employees to remain employed but prohibiting them from entering physical offices. The employees are also barred from gatherings such as off-site meetings, team events and summits. 

In April the company ordered its injected staff to return to the office, where they must work at least three days a week. 

But now those employees are complaining of extremely high COVID-19 infection rates in the office. According to CNBC, Google’s Los Angeles office has the highest COVID-19 outbreak of any employer in the county. As of last week, Google had 302 cases in its office, according to ABC News, prompting internal complaints and memes from employees. 

One group at the company, named “Googlers for No Vaccine Mandate,” is now petitioning Google leadership to retract its mandate, citing the anyway-increasing number of cases. The group consists of non-injected employees and even some fully-vaccinated workers who “believe the company’s vaccine policy is an invasion of privacy and is insensitive to individual circumstances and risk factors.” 

CNBC notes that the group reportedly includes “hundreds of employees with tenures of up to 10 years, in roles such as engineering, program management, UX design, education, sales, marketing and finance.” 

“We’re writing to ask for your help for a group of Googlers who still aren’t allowed back to our offices,” wrote the group in the memo. “We are reaching out to you as colleagues and peers because our direct appeals to Google leadership have been ignored. When planning an in-person meeting, summit or offsite, think about how Googlers who are barred from full participation by the vaccine policy can be acknowledged and included.”