As a federal contractor, General Electric Co. will require all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
All GE U.S. employees must be fully vaccinated or receive a medical or religious exemption by Dec. 8, following President Joe Biden’s announcement in September that anyone who works with or in the federal government must be vaccinated. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is expected to create a rule for private businesses with 100 or more employees to require vaccination or undergo weekly testing.
The vaccine requirement will impact GE Aviation, headquartered outside Cincinnati, as well as employees at other locations.
Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co. announced it has delayed its deadline for employees to get vaccinated. Company spokesperson Patrick Blair said they pushed back the original Nov. 1 deadline “due to lack of broad availability of testing kits in certain parts of the country.” P&G was complying with OSHA’s anticipated rule.
The WCPO 9 I-Team surveyed Cincinnati’s largest employers and found a variety of approaches to vaccine requirements, but only one company revealed its vaccination rate. Western & Southern Financial Group Inc. – the city’s third-largest company – said the company has a 76 percent vaccination rate, citing a bonus plan for employees having an effect on lifting the percentage.
Kroger, Cincinnati’s largest company with $132.5 billion in 2020 revenue and about 17,000 local employees, is “strongly encouraging” vaccination of customers and employees, spokeswoman Jenifer Moore wrote in an email to the I-Team.