Florida’s Disney and Publix offer vaccine bonus pay if employees hit the target
Walt Disney World in Central Florida has joined Publix and other companies in offering cash bonuses to employees who get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Disney “cast members” who are fully vaccinated by Sept. 30 are eligible for a one-time payment equal to four hours of pay, Disney World spokeswoman Erica Ettori told the Orlando Sentinel.
The offer applies to employees who opt for either the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the two-dose Moderna or Pfizer vaccines.
The move, announced in late March by the union representing Disney cast members, Unite Here Local 362, comes as the U.S. has delivered at least one shot to more than half of its adults ages 16 and older. But that pace declined 20% to 2.6 million shots per day in the past two weeks as of April 26, according to research by the New York Times.
In Florida, about six million people are considered fully vaccinated as of April 29, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Orlando and Disney
For Orlando, a region that attracts tourists from the world over to its theme park attractions, the move by Disney for its 8,000-plus employees who operate the attractions, serve customers at food stations and clean the park, makes sense, according Unite Here Local 362 President Eric Clinton.
“They’re guest-facing. They come in contact, in some cases, with thousands of tourists on a daily basis,” Clinton told the Orlando Sentinel. “Every single thing that we can do to protect people, including getting vaccinated, moves us towards being safe and back towards a new normal.”
Disney has been offering its employees vaccinations on-site, reports Orlando’s Fox35.
Publix and Target
In February, Publix, based in Lakeland, also announced financial incentives for its supermarket employees to get a vaccine. Those part- and full-time employees who do so get a $125 Publix gift card.
Publix has about 225,000 employees in grocery stores in Florida, as well as in Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia.
Publix CEO Todd Jones said in a statement that getting vaccinated is a move toward “getting back to normal,” a point echoed Wednesday night by President Joe Biden in his first address to Congress on April 29.
Disney and Publix are part of a growing trend to give incentives to staffers seeing protection against the pandemic.
Target, based in Minneapolis, announced in February an offer to its hourly “team members” up to four hours of pay when they get their vaccines and through a partnership with rideshare company Lyft free rides up to $15 each way to get to and from their appointments if they need the service.
Other companies offer vaccine incentives
Dollar General also is offering its hourly store team members a one-time payment equivalent of four hours of regular pay after receiving a completed COVID-19 vaccination. Salaried employees get additional labor hours to accommodate for their time away from the store, the Tennessee-based company announced in March.
The Orlando Sentinel reports that Bento Asian Kitchen + Sushi, an Orlando-based, 23-restaurant chain, offers two hours of pay — and through the end of April an additional $25 — to its employees who get vaccinated for the novel coronavirus.
Darden Restaurants, a chain based in Orlando that includes Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse in its portfolio, offers its employees up to four hours pay to get the vax, too.
According to AARP, many other companies have joined the growing vaccine trend of offering employees some kind of financial incentive to take the shots. Among them: Aldi, Amtrak, Instacart, Kroger, McDonald’s and Trader Joe’s.
This story was originally published April 29, 2021 at 10:13 AM.
