Plano-based Toyota not mandating vaccines, aiming for return to office in January

Toyota North America, based in Plano, plans a return to the office in January that does not include a vaccination mandate but intends to follow new rules that include a requirement to test unvaccinated employees weekly.

Toyota is postponing its return date to January 2022 to give time to “evaluate the situation,” spokesman Scott Vazin said in an email statement in response to questions posed by the Dallas Morning News.

The company’s plans became the subject of speculation late last week after a staff meeting attended by Toyota and Lexus employees.

At that meeting, the day before the details of the new federal regulations became known, Senior Vice President of Automotive Operations Jack Hollis said he expected Toyota to periodically test its employees, according to a recording received from The News.

“The theory was that we want people to get vaccinated so we can go to the office and not wear a mask,” Hollis told staff when they called. “My own goal is to get people back in here, uncovered, and to work together again as early as January. Cross your fingers and we will continue to fight for the good fight. “

Hollis also said on the call that the company does not mandate vaccinations or endorse forced shooting. “That means there will be weekly tests,” he said.

Vazin’s statement stressed that Toyota would revise its current protocols or implement new ones to meet the occupational health and safety authority’s emergency rules published last Thursday.

“The health and safety of our employees is a top priority and Toyota supports the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health professionals and will comply with the legal requirements of the [emergency order]“, It says in the statement.

OSHA rules require private companies with more than 100 employees to prescribe vaccines or have them tested weekly and to wear masks to work by January 4th with no testing facility.

According to the regulations, employers are not obliged to cover the costs of regular examinations of unvaccinated workers. OSHA estimates that the new regulations will save more than 6,500 workers’ lives and prevent more than 250,000 hospitalizations over the next six months.

Toyota North America’s salaried office workers are 75% vaccinated and the company offers vaccines to its employees through clinics and pharmacies, Vazin said.

Toyota employs more than 4,000 people in its two million square foot headquarters in Plano, which also includes the company’s automotive, financial and technology businesses. It has tens of thousands more workers in assembly plants and offices across the country.

Some major employers in North Texas chose to prescribe the vaccine for their employees ahead of the new OSHA rules and January 4 deadline, including several major hospital systems, AT&T based in Dallas, and American Airlines and Southwest Airlines with local headquarters . The airlines are contractual partners of the federal government.

[ad_1]