Are Paycheck Penalties Coming For Unvaccinated Employees in NY?

Currently, in New York, about 60% of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated and about 67% have had one dose of the vaccine according to USA Facts.

New York State and employers have tried incentives to encourage people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and its variants. Unfortunately, offering lotteries to win millions of dollars, free college tuition, or just a free dinner isn't enough to entice people to get vaccinated.

So, according to Forbes Magazine, employers are now looking to flip from incentives to penalties for those employees that aren't getting vaccinated. Employers are considering a monthly payrole deduction for employees that choose not to get vaccinated. I'm sure there will be exceptions for people with health issues or some other reason that they can't get the Covid-19 vaccination.

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The "penalty" could show up in a couple of different ways in an employee's paycheck. One way would be higher health insurance premiums for employees and their families if they aren't vaccinated. Most companies already do something similar to this with increased premiums for employees that smoke.

The other way that the "penalty" could show up for New York employees to through employer contributions to healthcare spending accounts or monthly health insurance premiums. Those that aren't vaccinated could lose out on $25 to $50 a month in employer contributions.

So, the bottom line is that you could lose out on money each month if you don't get the Covid-19 vaccine.