It officially ended its sick pay benefit Oct. 2 for employees at nearly 9,000 cafes. Employees also lost access to vaccine and side-effects pay, which afforded them up to two hours of paid time off to get a COVID-19 vaccine, and up to four hours paid time off if they experienced side effects after taking the vaccine.
Starbucks also announced plans to introduce a new "generous sick time accrual model.” But that benefit may not be granted to about 230 of its cafes that have unionized, according to A More Perfect Union, a union publication. The company did not respond to a comment request ahead of the publication deadline.