Starbucks Corp. has ended its COVID-19 vaccine mandate following a Supreme Court ruling that found the Biden administration’s attempt to force workers to get a vaccine or wear a mask and be tested weekly was an overstep of its authority.
“We respect the court’s ruling and will comply,” Starbucks Chief Operating Officer John Culver wrote in a memorandum to workers.
“The Act empowers the Secretary to set workplace safety standards, not broad public health measures. Confirming the point, the Act’s provisions typically speak to hazards that employees face at work. And no provision of the Act addresses public health more generally, which falls outside of OSHA’s sphere of expertise,” the majority opinion reads.
“This is an important step we can take to help more partners get vaccinated, limit the spread of COVID-19, and create choices that partners can own based on what’s best for them,” Culver wrote in a letter to workers at the time.
In the new memo, the company said more than 90 percent of its workers already have disclosed their vaccination status, with a vast majority of them being fully vaccinated. Fully vaccinated means that a person has received two doses of the Pfizer or Moderna COVID-19 vaccines or a single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Culver also wrote in the memo that Starbucks strongly encourages vaccinations and boosters, as well as the disclosure of vaccination status. Starbucks has about 220,000 employees in the United States.
General Electric Co. is among companies that have suspended their vaccination mandates after the Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration rule, while Citigroup and workwear maker Carhartt are businesses that have kept the mandate in place.
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