Liberty Bank institutes vaccine mandate

Photo | CoStar A Liberty Bank branch in Bristol.

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By Zachary Vasile

Liberty Bank this week joined the growing number of private employers requiring workers to be vaccinated against COVID-19 — a decision bank officials said was made before President Joe Biden instituted a sweeping vaccine directive of his own expected to impact over 100 million Americans.

Adam J. Jeamel, a senior vice president and corporate communications manager at Middletown-based Liberty, said all bank employees — including customer-facing workers and back-office staff — will have to be fully vaccinated by Nov. 15. Exemptions will be made for employees with qualified medical and religious reasons.

Liberty Bank is requiring its back-office workforce to return to their offices starting Oct. 18, in what Jeamel described as a “phased approach.” That policy was announced internally two weeks ago, he said.

Liberty Bank’s vaccine mandate comes as the U.S. Labor Department, at Biden’s instruction, drafts a new emergency rule requiring all employers with over 100 workers to have their workforce fully vaccinated or tested for COVID-19 on a weekly basis. It is the first federal order of its kind aimed at private companies.

Health insurer Cigna announced its own vaccine mandate last month, but no other large, Connecticut-based businesses of note immediately followed its lead. That is now expected to change as companies move to bring themselves into compliance with the president’s new policy.