Thread regarding SAS Institute layoffs

Regarding this post - There is no "MAY" for termination. "Failure to do so will be considered your resignation from SAS".

This is very accurate. I went through the religious accommodation process at SAS and the dreadful HR rep said those exact words. I have the receipts.

... as I predicted, nobody cares about vaccination status now--not even TSA. But so glad we fired all those people last year. Good job SAS.

This is actually hilarious. So many unhealthy ppl in here so afraid that they might die from covid, buy where is your type 2 diabetes vaccine? Where is your obesity vaccine? You ppl were already going downhill because you don't bother to take care of yourself. SAS is a joke and you are too if you believe this company is obeying mandates for your safety. It's only about money. Who is being "endangered" if you work remote? Btw I guess someone who has health exemptions or religious exemptions is also "endangering" you because they are not vaccinated yet they will be in the office with your because reasons.

How about valuing lives you putz!! Spreading a disease and raising the cost of healthcare due to a lack of common sense and a simple vaccine is bad for everyone - let the self centered eat cake.

Original Poster Here: I've let this simmer for a bit, but wanted to respond to a few points made in other posts.

1. I'm vaccinated, and believe everyone should be (as a data scientist, I believe the data I'm seeing); however, I understand why someone might be hesitant given that this issue has morphed into a political football. People, including those posting here, are smugly making this about politics and whose right/wrong or learned/foolish. However, when a conversation on something so important in our society is reduced to sound bites, political talking points, or condescending/snarky comebacks involving "science" it does everyone a disservice. It has fundamentally degraded the subject matter.
2. If you have made the personal health choice to get vaccinated, and even boosted, as I have; Great! You shouldn't fear death. That's why we did this! And the data shows the instance of severe illness for "breakthrough cases" is astronomically low. So, don't run around acting like the unvaccinated are an inherent danger to you. It's just irrational. And treating them like lesser beings, subhuman mo--ns, etc. is just immoral. Stop it.
3. As we are seeing play out in the courts, OSHA doesn't actually have the legal authority to mandate this. The administration kicked the can on this until January. The courts will ki-l this mandate; so, that will no longer be a solid excuse. A company is well within its rights to mandate vaccines; it's legal for them them to do so. However, for a company that has built its entire brand on the idea that employees are their most important asset, it's really calling all that into question when the employees are suddenly treated as liabilities. SAS had other options to pursue that wasn't so dismissive of people, but they took the easier path (that also saved money).
4. This has nothing to do with SAS being a federal contractor. SAS has a federal business unit that is separate from the rest of SAS. That separation has allowed the main part of SAS to NOT comply with many government regulations over the years; this would be no different.

I tested positive for Covid in 2020 but had no symptoms at all. Either the tests are deliberately faulty to boost case numbers or the disease isn't as virulent as it is claimed to be. It's purely political either way. Don't believe the lies.

"I am genuinely curious to know how another person's decision to not get the covid vax could increase the chances of death in another human."

Unvaccinated people increase the risk of death in others in three ways:

1. Unvaccinated people fill our hospitals, which don't have enough beds to handle the Covid patients plus all their normal heart attack, stroke, and other victims. This happened last year during the initial surge, and again this year during the Delta surge. This man's story was widely reported; he didn't die of Covid, but of a heart attack -- because the ICUs were full:
   https://www.newsnationnow.com/health/coronavirus/alabama-man-dies-after-43-hospitals-with-full-icus-turned-him-away-family-urges-covid-19-vaccines/

2. Unvaccinated people catch the disease more easily, so they transmit it to others more often.

3. Unvaccinated people provide a reservoir in which the virus can mutate. This is just the way viruses work. If everybody got vaccinated, Covid would become like smallpox or measles -- extinct. But as long as there is an unvaccinated population in which it can circulate, it's going to keep mutating; we can't get rid of it.

If you truly want an honest, rational discussion, we need more like you. Too many of these discussions treat vaccination as a matter of politics, when it should be a simple matter of science.

RE: "When your "personal health choice" could ki-l me, it stops being just about you." I am genuinely curious to know how another person's decision to not get the covid vax could increase the chances of death in another human. Please elaborate and provide examples.

My health is my concern, not yours. Your health is your concern, not mine.

I say addition by subtraction - I don’t want to work with folks who are anti-science and don’t care about the health of others. Fully support Dr. G on this one.

Poor Antivaxxer. I’ve already been exposed enough times to people like you who this whole thing is a hoax.

There's an aspect you're overlooking - OSHA. All companies with 100 or more employees now must have a Covid Management Program dealing with vaccinations, testing, reporting, and other aspects. Covid is a new risk for companies to manage.

The easiest option is requiring all employees be vaccinated. Documented proof of the policy and vaccination records shows compliance; OSHA leaves you alone.

Alternative options are riskier and more costly. No matter who you are, or where you reside, your employment is not worth those efforts to a company.

Remember, none of us are valuable to any company long-term, SAS or otherwise. We are all simply line items in an analytics table now, components of a metric to manage, who can and will be released for more economically viable alternatives, when they become available.

And if you still believe SAS has a chance, think again. SAS passed its apogee 10 years ago, and descends at steeper angles each successive year. Cratering is eminent, regardless of the happy "baaas" PR dollies chant in the Leadership Updates. Prepare for impact.

When your "personal health choice" could ki-l me, it stops being just about you.

There is no "MAY" for termination. "Failure to do so will be considered your resignation from SAS"

this isn’t accurate. they said anyone who refuses to be vaccinated MAY be subject to termination.

sas works with the government. IIRC any govt subcontractors have to enforce mandatory vaccination.

also they have to protect the company from being liable for people who would sue saying the workplace didn’t take appropriate or adequate action to protect employees from covid. and the cost of employees health insurance would go through the roof if significant numbers of employees had extended hospitalizations bc of covid. they’d also have to hire more healthcare workers to staff constant testing of anyone who’s refusing the vaccine. so seems like a mostly economic decision maybe.