Apparently KCBD-TV fired six employees for trying to skirt the company's vaccine mandate by providing fake vaccine cards.
I am not sure that a corporation can impose a vaccination mandate by requiring their employees to release their medical records, especially in light of Gov. Abbott's executive order. Imagine a Christian organization wanting to look at medical records of an employee to look for drug abuse issues, STDs, or past abortions.Quote:
https://www.lubbockonline.com/story/news/2021/10/13/kcbd-lubbock-news-executive-speaks-after-employees-fired-covid-19-policy-vaccine/8436351002/
Six employees at Lubbock's KCBD-TV station, including vice president and general manager Dan Jackson, were fired recently for apparently violating its parent company's COVID-19 vaccination policies, according to current and former employees.
Eleah Lehnen, who was a KCBD account executive, said she was fired Tuesday morning after the company's human resources officials told her she was in violation of its COVID-19 vaccine policy.
Lehnen confirmed that Jackson and two other employees including KCBD's general sales manager and news director were fired last week, while she was among three employees who were terminated Tuesday.
Lehnen said that, as of Oct. 1, GrayTV implemented a policy requiring employees be fully vaccinated for COVID-19, with few exceptions offered.
Lehnen said her doctor advised her against getting a COVID-19 vaccination earlier this year, claiming that because she'd already been diagnosed with the disease her antibodies would be adequate protection.
She said she'd heard from others that Gray was generally not accepting employees' requests for religious or other exemptions from its COVID-19 vaccination mandate, so she didn't request an exemption.
"I never submitted an exemption because I was told by my management team that (GrayTV) were denying them, they were not accepting them, and so I was just trying to ride it out," she said.
Lehnen said that it's her understanding the issue came to a head early last week, when GrayTV was tipped off to "a rumor" that there were fake COVID-19 vaccine cards at KCBD, although she did not say if there was truth to the claim.
"An anonymous tip got called in to GrayTV," she said. "So last Tuesday, they sent a group of attorneys to Lubbock to interview, interrogate, employees at KCBD."
Before that, she said, GrayTV was allowing each general manager to handle implementation of the policy at their stations.
But starting last week and through the first of this week, corporate officials were interviewing employees, asking them to sign paperwork releasing their medical records for verification of their vaccine status, with Lehnen and at least two other employees being fired Tuesday for violating the policy, she said. Lehned recorded her conversation with corporate officials who asked her about her vaccine status and ultimately told her Tuesday would be her last day with the company.
GrayTV, based in Atlanta, currently owns and/or operates television stations and leading digital properties in 94 television markets. In January 2019, GrayTV completed its acquisition of Raycom, KCBD's former owner.
