Amazon Shortens Paid Leave For U.S. Workers With Covid After CDC Changes Guidance

Topline

Amazon is reducing paid leave for all U.S. employees who contract Covid-19 or need to quarantine from 10 days to 40 hours, the latest major private employer to cut its paid leave after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s updated its recommendations for self-isolation.

Amazon logo on the facade of its regional headquarters of Amazon in Sunnyvale, California (Photo by … [+] Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)

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Key Facts

All U.S. workers who test positive for Covid-19 or were exposed to the coronavirus will be offered up to 40 hours of paid leave, Amazon told employees in a notice the company sent to Forbes (the change was first reported by CNBC and the Wall Street Journal.)

The Journal reported Amazon is allowing U.S. workers who contract Covid-19 to return to work after isolating for seven days.

Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the country, after Walmart, which also halved its paid leave for workers who contract Covid-19 this week — their decisions could be a bellwether for other large employers.

Last week, the CDC halved the recommended isolation period for those who test positive for Covid-19 and are asymptomatic to five days.

Amazon employees aren’t required to provide a negative Covid-19 test result to return to work, the Journal reported — the CDC’s recommendation also doesn’t directly advise people to test after five days.

Key Background

Before this week’s change, Amazon offered 10 days of paid sick leave to Covid-positive employees, in line with the CDC’s previous guidance. Some Amazon workers who tried to take Covid-19 leave reported payment problems last year. In October 2021, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy acknowledged the process “didn’t work the way we wanted it to work,” as the company didn’t foresee a pandemic or a spike in demand for online orders.

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