Navy Federal Announces Vaccine Policy for All Employees

The $147 billion Navy Federal Credit Union, the industry’s largest employer, announced a policy on Sept. 30 that will give its 19,374 employees the choice to get the COVID-19 vaccination or complete regular testing.

“Navy Federal Credit Union recently implemented a COVID vaccine policy that emphasizes two main points: We care deeply about our employees’ health and well-being, and we want our employees to have a choice in the matter,” Navy Federal said in a prepared statement.

Navy Federal employees who provide proof of being fully vaccinated by Dec. 1 will receive a health care incentive. For those employees who choose not to take the vaccination, they will be required to complete regular testing for the virus.

For the 2022 plan year, if employees submit proof of being fully vaccinated by Dec. 1 and are enrolled in one of Navy Federal’s health plans (PPO or HMO), they will receive a health care premium discount effective with the first paycheck in January 2022, and will pay less per pay period than someone who is unvaccinated or chooses not to upload proof of being fully vaccinated, Navy Federal said.

“Employees who don’t participate in our COVID-19 Vaccine Program may be initially counseled and/or subject to other actions, subject to applicable law,” Navy Federal said in its prepared statement. “Our goal has, and always will be, to work with our employees to create as safe of a workplace as possible. We believe we’ve created a policy that gives employees the opportunity to make the best decision for themselves, while simultaneously allowing the credit union to take the necessary steps to limit the negative impacts of COVID-19.”

Employers are required by federal and state laws to accommodate employees who are unable to take vaccinations because of health reasons or sincerely held religious beliefs.

In September, President Joe Biden announced six proposals to aggressively address the coronavirus crisis, which included requiring all employers with 100 or more employees to ensure their workforce is fully vaccinated or require any workers who remain unvaccinated to produce a negative test result on at least a weekly basis before coming to work.

Some credit unions have been ahead of the curve in requiring employees to get vaccinated.

Since August, there have been at least five credit unions that have publicly issued vaccine mandates because the Delta variant triggered significant spikes of virus infections and deaths across the nation. Recently, however, virus infection and death rates have been declining, according to the CDC.

For example, as of Tuesday, the current seven-day average of reported COVID cases was 106,395 compared to the prior seven-day average of reported COVID cases of 122,659, a decline of more than 13%, according to the CDC. The seven-day average death rate also had declined by more than 3% from 1,527 to 1,476, the CDC reported. Nearly 65% of the American population has received one shot of the vaccine, while 55% of Americans have been fully vaccinated, according to the CDC.

The credit unions that have publicly announced a vaccine requirement for employees include the $451 million Signal Financial Federal Credit Union in Kensington, Md., the $1.2 billion Allegacy Federal Credit Union in Winston Salem, N.C., the $1.7 billion Credit Union of Texas in Allen, the $2.2 billion Hawaii State Federal Credit Union in Honolulu and the $268 million Michigan Legacy Credit Union in Wyandotte.

In August, the CU Times reached out to 11 of the largest credit unions by assets, including Navy Federal, to see if any were considering a vaccine mandate for employees. At that time, not one stated to CU Times that it would be implementing a vaccine mandate.