Morrisons becomes first supermarket to cut sick pay for unvaccinated staff who have to isolate

Morrisons has confirmed it has cut sick pay for unvaccinated staff members who have to self-isolate after being exposed to Covid.

Following Ikea’s decision to lower the sick pay rate for unvaccinated staff members last week, the supermarket chain has made a similar announcement as their staff absences continue to rise.

Much like those employed by the Swedish furniture retailer, unjabbed Morrisons workers – who usually get paid at least £10 an hour – will now get statutory sick pay of £96.35 a week if they are told to isolate but test negative.

@morrisons / Instagram

Covid-positive staff will get full sick pay regardless of vaccination status, however.

According to The Guardian, Morrisons executive Dave Potts first mentioned the policy in a conference call with investors in September 2021 as part of a plan to tackle the ‘biblical costs’ of dealing with the Covid pandemic.

Potts said Morrison’s had been on the ‘front foot’ in helping workers stay safe during the pandemic, saying: “We are normalising some of those policies.”

The newspaper reported that this move was the supermarket’s way of encouraging their staff to take the vaccine.

Flickr

The requirement for fully-vaccinated people to isolate when exposed to Covid was dropped in England in August, meaning unvaccinated workers were more likely to take time off than their vaccinated colleagues as a Covid contact.

And just one week ago, the health secretary announced that the Covid isolation period had been reduced from seven days to five.

Sajid Javid revealed the move in a Commons statement to MPs last week, citing data from the UK Health Security Agency and saying: “Two-thirds of positive cases are no longer infectious by the end of day five.”

This means people will be able to leave isolation if they test negative on days five and six regardless of vaccination status.