Union Pacific encourages employees to work from home until January Reuters

By Nathan Gomes

(Reuters) – American railway operator Union Pacific Corp. (NYSE 🙂 said it encourages employees to work from home until January 30 because the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus is forcing companies to reconsider returning employees to the office.

“We are still encouraging employees to report their vaccination status and get vaccinated,” Union Pacific said in a statement sent by email on Thursday.

The company, which operates in 23 states and connects East Coast ports with key terminals like Chicago, suspended its COVID-19 vaccine mandate for employees last month after a judge blocked the Biden administration’s vaccination rule for federal contractors.

About 73% of 31,000 employees have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of Dec. 8, the U.S. rail operator said.

Some U.S. companies are asking employees to work from home in an attempt to prevent infection among staff while the Omicron variant is raging ground. An average of 779,588 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the United States over the past week, the Reuters sum showed https://graphics.reuters.com/HEALTH-CORONAVIRUS/USA-TRENDS/dgkvlgkrkpb.