In an initial statement to ABC News, the low-cost carrier said the flight attendants involved had been “suspended pending further investigation” because they did not follow the proper policies for restraining a passenger.
The news of the suspension prompted backlash from the nation’s largest flight attendant union — demanding Frontier reinstate them.
“Management should be supporting the crew at this time, not suspending them,” Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, AFL-CIO (AFA) President Sara Nelson said. “We will be fighting this with every contractual and legal tool available, but we would hope there will be no need for that as management comes to their senses and supports the people on the frontline charged with keeping all passengers safe.”
Frontier then issued a revised statement saying the flight attendants were on paid leave which is “in line with an event of this nature pending an investigation.”
“Frontier Airlines maintains the utmost value, respect, concern and support for all of our flight attendants, including those who were assaulted on this flight,” the airline’s statement continued. “We are supporting the needs of these team members and are working with law enforcement to fully support the prosecution of the passenger involved.”
The unruly passenger was identified by authorities as 22-year-old Maxwell Berry. He was arrested after the flight landed in Miami and is now facing three counts of battery.
Saturday’s case is the latest in a surge of unruly passenger incidents onboard planes. The Federal Aviation Administration has received more than 3,700 reports of unruly passengers since January with more than 2,700 of them involving fliers who refuse to wear a mask.
Last week the flight attendants union released a survey that found that 85% of the nearly 5,000 U.S. flight attendants they surveyed said they had dealt with an unruly passenger in 2021.
Almost 60% said they had experienced not one, but at least five incidents this year, and 17% reported that the incident got physical.
Flight attendants recalled incidents in which visibly drunk passengers verbally abused them, “aggressively” challenged them for making sure passengers were in compliance with the federal mask mandate, shoved them, kicked seats, threw trash at them and defiled the restrooms.
More than half of the flight attendants reported that unruly passengers used racist, sexist and/or homophobic slurs.
“I’ve been yelled at, cursed at and threatened countless times in the last year and the most that has come out of it has been a temporary suspension of travel for the passenger,” one flight attendant wrote in the survey. “We need real consequences if flight attendants are ever going to feel safe at work again.”
The AFA is doubling down on its call for the FAA and Department of Justice to “protect passengers and crew from disruptive and verbally and physically abusive travelers.”
A DOJ spokesperson told ABC News that “interference with flight crew members is a serious crime that deserves the attention of federal law enforcement.”
“As with any case, we exercise prosecutorial discretion in deciding which cases to charge federally,” the spokesperson continued. “Factors include egregiousness of the offense, were lives in danger, victim impact, mental health, did the plane have to make an unscheduled landing, is this a repeat offense, are there mitigating factors, etc. This is a serious crime that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.”
The FAA is still enforcing its zero-tolerance policy for in-flight disruptions which could lead to fines as high as $52,500 and up to 20 years in prison. The agency has looked into more than 628 potential violations of federal law so far this year — the highest number since the agency began keeping records in 1995.
(New York) — Boeing’s chance at redemption for its Starliner spacecraft will have to wait for now. The launch attempt scheduled for Tuesday was scrubbed at the last minute due to an unexpected incident with the spacecraft, NASA said.
The attempt was scrubbed “due to unexpected valve position indications in the Starliner propulsion system,” NASA noted. Further details were not immediately available, but the space agency said the next launch opportunity is 12:57 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The second test flight for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft was scheduled to launch from the Florida coast on Tuesday afternoon before it was called off. This comes on the heels of last week’s launch attempt also being scrubbed due to an unplanned thruster-firing incident on the International Space Station.
The first Starliner launch in December 2019 famously did not go as planned and the spacecraft never reached the ISS.
NASA was set to carry live coverage of the uncrewed mission starting at 12:30 p.m. ET Tuesday. It’s part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, in which the space agency tapped the private sector to help with missions in low-Earth orbit. It’s not immediately clear when the next launch opportunity will be.
On Monday, the Starliner spacecraft and a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket were rolled out on to the launch pad at Florida’s Cape Canaveral Space Force Station ahead of Tuesday’s liftoff. Meteorologists with the U.S. Space Force 45th Weather Squadron predicted a 60% chance of favorable weather for launch day.
After launching, the Starliner was supposed to commence a daylong trip to the space station.
The spaceship was set to bring some 400 pounds of cargo and supplies to the space station crew.
While the test flight is uncrewed, an anthropometric dummy dubbed “Rosie the Rocketeer” will be aboard the Starliner when it launches.The 180-pound test device will sit in the commander’s seat of the capsule for the test flight, and its sensors will be used to collect data on how the launch will impact eventual human passengers. The model human was named after the World War II icon Rosie the Riveter, and is meant to honor women pioneers in aerospace. The test device is clad in the iconic red polka-dot bandana.
Boeing also said it will be paying tribute to more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities during the upcoming flight test. Among the cargo inside the spacecraft are flags, small pennants and other items “representing HBCUs from throughout the U.S.,” according to a statement from the company.
NASA and Boeing blamed errors in automation and software issues for the botched launch in December 2019, saying mission clocks were not in sync and thus timing errors prevented the Starliner from reaching the orbit it needed in order to get to the space station. Rather than reach the space station, the Starliner landed in White Sands, New Mexico.
The second test flight mission is seen as critical for Boeing, as it has yet to launch astronauts for NASA while its Commercial Crew program competitor SpaceX has flown multiple crewed missions to the space station in addition to numerous cargo flights. Boeing is also still reeling from the fallout related to issues with its 737 Max jets. If the Starliner launch fails again, it is difficult to see how it will be able to remain competitive against SpaceX for NASA contracts — especially as the private sector’s involvement in the budding commercial space industry has grown significantly over the past year.
(NEW YORK) — Thousands of Spirit Airlines and American Airlines passengers faced cancellations and delays on Monday in the latest summer travel snag.
The airlines canceled more than 800 flights combined on Monday, and delayed more than 1,000.
A Spirit spokesperson told ABC News the cancellations are the result of a “perfect storm,” blaming weather, staffing shortages and crews reaching the hour limits in which they are legally able to fly.
In order to get their operations back on track, they proactively canceled 313 flights, which is around 40% of their daily operation. The cancellations gave Spirit “breathing room” to ensure crews and planes can get to the right locations, the spokesperson said.
Frustrated passengers took to social media tweeting that they were stranded, forced to wait in long lines, or rerouted.
“We’re working around the clock to get back on track in the wake of some travel disruptions over the weekend due to a series of weather and operational challenges,” Spirit said in a statement. “We needed to make proactive cancellations to some flights across the network, but the majority of flights are still scheduled as planned.”
American canceled 529 flights on Monday, almost 20% of its daily operation.
The carrier told ABC News it’s still recovering from inclement weather Sunday in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. A spokesperson said severe thunderstorms moved in and at least 80 flights had to divert to other airports, adding that it is currently repositioning planes and crews to improve the operation. . The cancellations come as air travel continues to break pandemic records.
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers screened more than 2.2 million people at U.S. airports nationwide Sunday — the highest checkpoint volume since the start of the pandemic.
All U.S. airlines and the TSA have struggled with staffing as air travel has rapidly jumped from historic lows to approaching pre-pandemic levels.
When air travel came to a halt in March 2020, thousands of employees were offered early retirements and buyouts, but now the airlines are desperate to fill these positions again.
Hundreds of American Airlines flights were cancelled in late June because of significant staffing and maintenance issues.
During its most recent earnings call, Southwest Airlines executives revealed they have had to double their hiring efforts because they are getting fewer applications than they are used to.
“If it’s not the number one focus, it is 1A, which is getting our hiring in place and our staffing in place,” Southwest’s Executive Vice President Robert Jordan said.
(NEW YORK) — Black women are typically paid only 63 cents for every dollar paid to white, non-Hispanic men, which means they have to work seven months into 2021, Aug. 3, to earn what white, non-Hispanic men made in 2020 alone.
The gender wage gap has closed by only three cents for Black women over the last 30 years, according to the National Women’s Law Center, a policy-focused organization that fights for gender justice.
As a result of the wage gap, Black women, on average, lose $2,009 each month, $24,110 annually, and $964,400 over the course of a 40-year career, according to a new analysis by the NWLC.
Equal Pay Day for all women was marked on March 24, 2021, meaning that Black women have to work an extra five months to catch up.
This year’s Black Women’s Equal Pay Day comes as Black women are continuing to face the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, during which Black women have been hit disproportionately hard.
Over 1 in 12 Black women ages 20 and over were unemployed in June, an increase of 8% since May. And Black women’s unemployment rate remains nearly two times higher than their pre-pandemic unemployment rate, according to the NWLC.
In July, the median weekly earnings for a Black woman were $746, compared to $1,115 for a white man, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
With Black women more likely to be the breadwinner for their family, the pay gap matters even more in a time of economic uncertainty like the pandemic, according to Nicole Mason, president and CEO of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.
“When we have a pandemic and then the economic downturn, there’s less money to ride out an economic storm, less money that they’re bringing home, especially if their hours have been cut,” Mason told Good Morning America last year. “Some people think that the pay gap doesn’t exist or you don’t really feel it, but women feel it every day in their wallets, every day when they go to work and bring home less, or during an economic downturn or job loss. They don’t have the money they need to be able to provide for their families.”
Mason’s organization has released research that estimates Black women will not bring home the same earnings as white men for the same jobs until 2130 if the current rate of change persists.
When it comes to solutions for closing the pay gap for Black women, Mason said the federal government can play a role in passing legislation that promotes pay equity and pay transparency and works to end workplace discrimination.
She said employers can play a role, too.
“Employers have a role to play in terms of making sure there is pay equity and making sure that women across the board earn what they’re worth and the skills and talents they bring to the table,” Mason added. “And as a culture and a society, we have a lot of work to do in terms of breaking gender stereotypes around women in the workplace, their value and how much women should be paid for their work.”
(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — After a very public flop in 2019, Boeing’s chance at redemption for its Starliner spacecraft is finally here.
The second test flight for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft is scheduled to launch from the Florida coast on Tuesday at 1:20 p.m. ET, after a launch attempt last week was scrubbed due to an unplanned thruster-firing incident on the International Space Station. The first Starliner launch in December 2019 famously did not go as planned, and the spacecraft never reached the ISS.
NASA will carry live coverage of the uncrewed mission as it is a part of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, in which the space agency tapped the private sector to help with missions in low-Earth orbit. Live coverage of the Starliner launch will commence on NASA’s website and social media handles at 12:30 p.m. ET.
Approximately 30 minutes after launch, the Starliner is set to perform its orbital insertion burn that kicks off its daylong trip to the space station. It is then scheduled to dock at the ISS at 1:37 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
The spaceship is bringing some 400 pounds of cargo and supplies to the space station crew.
While the test flight is unmanned, an anthropometric dummy dubbed “Rosie the Rocketeer” will be aboard the Starliner. The 180-pound test device will sit in the commander’s seat of the capsule for the test flight, and its sensors will be used to collect data on how the launch will impact eventual human passengers. The model human was named after the World War II icon Rosie the Riveter, and is meant to honor women pioneers in aerospace. The test device is clad in the iconic red polka-dot bandana.
Boeing also said it will be paying tribute to more than a dozen historically Black colleges and universities during the flight test. Among the cargo inside the spacecraft are flags, small pennants and other items “representing HBCUs from throughout the U.S.,” according to a statement from the company.
NASA and Boeing blamed errors in automation and software issues for the botched launch in December 2019, saying mission clocks were not in sync and thus timing errors prevented the Starliner from reaching the orbit it needed in order to get to the space station. Rather than reach the space station, the Starliner landed in White Sands, New Mexico.
Tuesday’s mission is seen as critical for Boeing, as it has yet to launch astronauts for NASA while its Commercial Crew program competitor SpaceX has flown multiple crewed missions to the space station in addition to numerous cargo flights. Boeing is also still reeling from the fallout related to issues with its 737 Max jets. If the Starliner launch fails again, it is difficult to see how it will be able to remain competitive against SpaceX for NASA contracts — especially as the private sector’s involvement in the budding commercial space industry has grown significantly over the past year.
(NEW YORK) — A major lifeline for millions of Americans was precipitously cut off over the weekend, leaving many families that are still reeling from the economic shock wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic now also at risk of losing their homes.
Notwithstanding last-minute scrambles from some lawmakers to extend it, the federal eviction moratorium instituted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) expired at midnight on Saturday.
The lapse in the pandemic-era protection that shielded vulnerable Americans from homelessness during the health crisis also comes as coronavirus cases resurge across the country. Millions of renters are now bracing for what happens next.
“It’s more than stress, it’s depression — this is rock bottom,” Jim Shock, 53, a West Virginia native who lost his job amid the pandemic and now faces eviction, told ABC News. “I don’t see an upside, and I don’t mind being humbled, being humbled doesn’t bother me. Struggles give you strength, and I’m all about all that. But yeah, this is probably as bad as it’s been, and I don’t know what I’m going to do.”
Terriana Julian Clark, 27, a mother of two from Harvey, Louisiana, said the past year has been marked by sickness, unemployment and homelessness before she moved into a home in February. In April, she became sick and suddenly unable to work at her in-person job. As bills and back-rent have piled up, she said she’s now waiting for an eviction notice from her landlord with the moratorium expired.
“He already told me, if I don’t have any type of money for him on the first day, he’s going to put out a 5 to 10 day eviction notice,” Clark said in an interview with ABC News’ “Start Here.”
“I slept in my car from January 2020 to January 2021,” she said, adding that she expects to move back into her Ford Mustang if she loses her home again — though she said she doesn’t want to put her children through that experience again.
“It was really hard,” Clark said, “to get gas, food, water. Making sure they have clothes on their back — because we couldn’t wash every day. So, like, having clean clothes is not like a necessity, not an option for us. I literally could feel the weight of the sweat from us in the seats.”
“I literally filled out 64 job applications in one month and only heard from two people,” the mom said, adding, “I’m trying to do the best that I can to stay up and not ever go back to where I was.”
More than 15 million people live in households that are currently behind on their rental payments, which puts them at risk of eviction, according to a report released last week by the nonprofit Aspen Institute think tank. Broken down further, researchers said that figure includes 7.4 million adults — which is in line with separate census data that says some 7.4 million adults are not caught up on rent payments as of July 5.
In the next two months alone, approximately 3.6 million American reported that they will likely face eviction, according to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.
Aspen researchers also said the threat of eviction disproportionately impacts communities of color. Some 22% of Black renters and 17% of Latino renters are in debt to their landlords, compared to 11% of white renters and 15% overall, the report said.
Shock lamented how the moratorium is ending despite the pandemic not being over in the U.S., saying, “the COVID compassion disappeared so quickly.”
“It’s not over,” he added of the health crisis. “It’s probably going to get worse if people don’t get vaccinated because of the delta strain.”
Data suggests the nation is grappling with a new summer surge in cases. The seven-day moving average of daily new cases in the U.S. shot up more than 64% compared with the previous week’s, the CDC said in data released last Friday. Presently, the U.S. is averaging some 66,606 new cases of COVID-19 per day.
Moreover, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, the CDC last week reversed course on its indoor mask guidance — recommending everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission wear a face covering in public indoor settings whether they are vaccinated or not.
Diane Yentel, the president and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC), told ABC News via email that a vast majority — an estimated 80% — of families currently behind on rent live in communities where the delta variant is surging.
“Having millions of families lose their homes would be tragic and consequential at any time,” Yentel said. “It will be especially so as COVID surges and with abundant resources to pay the rent that may not reach them in time.”
“This urgent situation demands immediate action by policy makers and stakeholders at all levels,” she added, calling on Congress and the Biden administration to extend the moratorium and local governments to improve and expedite getting assistance to tenants who need it to stay housed.
Moreover, Yentel called on the Department of Justice to direct courts to stop evictions for renters who are applying for emergency rental assistance, and on the Treasury Department to eliminate barriers that prevent emergency rental assistance from flowing where it needs to go. Finally, Yentel said the CDC should require landlords provide 30-days notice to renters before beginning eviction actions.
The NLIHC implored the Biden administration to “prevent a historic wave of evictions” in a June letter, arguing that with COVID-19 still present the expiration could lead to a rise in cases and virus deaths.
Research released from Princeton University’s Eviction Lab similarly argued in a June report that neighborhoods with the highest eviction filing rates have had the lowest levels of COVID-19 vaccinations. The researchers said their findings suggest “those most at risk of being evicted are still at high risk of contracting and passing the virus.”
Shock said another major concern about the eviction ban lifting is that, “Once you’re homeless, it’s going to be a lot harder for you to get a home.”
Aspen Institute policy researchers stated in their report that rental housing debt is “uniquely toxic” due to its lingering consequences in addition to eviction.
“People evicted on the basis of rental debt are likely to face a series of cascading consequences,” the report stated. “These may include civil legal actions or debt collection to recover outstanding balances, negative credit reporting that makes it difficult or impossible to rent a new home, short-term or extended homelessness, and a significant decline in physical and mental health.”
Researchers added that these long-term consequences can be particularly acute for children.
A majority (57%) of Americans say the eviction and foreclosure moratorium is still needed, according to an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll, though support divides sharply based on partisan lines as 75% of Democrats say this compared to 34% of Republicans.
Some Republican lawmakers have argued the moratorium unfairly punishes landlords, and could have unintended consequences such as higher rents if landlords account for the possibility of these moratoriums occurring again in the future. Others, including the Biden administration, have argued that the rental assistance meant to go toward landlords needs to be more efficiently dispersed by state and local governments.
Still, local authorities and renters are now bracing for the fallout of the protections expiring.
Shock said that many Americans who weathered the pandemic and financial downturn may be acting like everything is now going back to normal, but he predicts the nation is now on the precipice of a new housing crisis. The unemployment rate in the U.S. was 5.9% as of the most-recent Labor Department report, still well above the pre-pandemic 3.5% seen in February 2020.
“I think that the worst is yet to come. I think you’re going to see a homeless problem spike, you’re going to see food banks strained beyond anything that they can imagine,” he told ABC News. “After the COVID compassion wears off, then people are going to start bickering about homelessness: ‘Where are we going to put them? Where are we going to send them?'”
“It’s just the beginning,” he added. “I think we’re going to see just a surge of homelessness, and all the things that come with that.”
(NEW YORK) — Missy Park, CEO and founder of athletic brand Title Nine, is supporting the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team in a big way.
This week, Park announced that the women’s adventure and outdoor apparel retailer will contribute $1 million to USWNT players to support their fight for equal pay. In addition, Title Nine established the “Kick In For Equal Pay” initiative, where the company will match any donations up to $250,000.
“My hope with this contribution is that we all are conscious of the small and large things that we can do,” Park told “Good Morning America.”
Park, a former athlete at Yale University and an beneficiary of Title IX, a federal civil rights law that was passed to prohibit sex-based discrimination in schools or education programs that receives federal money, said she was compelled to support USWNT players after watching the HBO Max documentary “LFG,” which chronicles their ongoing fight for equal pay.
In March 2019, the players sued the U.S. Soccer Federation for gender discrimination, despite the courts having dismissed their equal pay claims last year. While competing at the Olympics, the team filed an appeal stating the ruling “penalized the USWNT players for their success.”
“These women, they play more games, they win more games, and yet they are paid less, so I was really mad about that,” Park said. “But then I also realized I’m kind of mad at myself. Like, it’s not just up to U.S. Soccer to fix this — it’s up to all of us.”
In a statement to ABC News, the U.S. Soccer Federation said it is “committed to fair and equal pay for our Women’s National Team players – and for all women.”
“Comparing only the game bonuses our Men’s and Women’s National Teams receive ignores the $100,000 annual salary that U.S. Soccer pays members of the Women’s National Team. The USWNT Players Association negotiated and agreed to a contract that provides guaranteed annual salaries and benefits, in addition to game bonuses. Due to this contract structure, they receive lower game bonuses than the Men’s National Team, who do not receive salaries or benefits and are paid only on a “pay to play” basis,” the statement continues. “Right now, we are focused on supporting the Women’s National Team in their quest to win a fifth Olympic Gold Medal. Moving ahead, we will continue to work with the team and its players association to chart a positive path forward.”
Park’s decision to contribute to the USWNT’s fight for equal pay is also a personal one. As a mother of two kids who both have big athletic dreams, Park wants to make sure they’re both able to pursue them in a way that’s equal.
“I have a son, Leo. And he’s a basketball player. And I have a daughter, she’s a soccer player, amongst other things,” she said. “I think about Leo when he was young — he dreamed of being in the NBA. You know he could dream of making a living doing that … My daughter is a soccer player — shouldn’t she have that dream, too? Don’t we want all our sons and daughters to have the same dreams?”
(NEW YORK) — As coronavirus cases in the U.S. begin a concerning climb upward and virus variants threaten a return to normalcy, a handful of businesses have announced COVID-19 vaccination mandates as they prepare to welcome workers back to the office.
The Equal Opportunity Employment Commission said employers can legally require COVID-19 vaccinations to re-enter a physical workplace, as long as they follow requirements to find alternative arrangements for employees unable to get vaccinated for medical reasons or because they have religious objections.
Still, the requirements have proven a hot button issue as business leaders mull over office reopening plans, in some cases sparking legal challenges and immense pushback from workers who refuse the shot. President Joe Biden said Tuesday that a mandate to require all federal employees to be vaccinated is now “under consideration.”
Here is a roundup of some of the major U.S. employers that have announced COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
Google
Tech giant Google announced a vaccine requirement Wednesday for those returning to its offices. The company has some 135,301 employees, according to SEC filings.
In a memo sent to employees, Google’s CEO Sundar Pichai also announced that the company’s “voluntary” work-from-home policy had been extended through Oct. 18 after it was initially set to expire on Sept. 1. In addition, Pichai wrote that “anyone coming to work on our campuses will need to be vaccinated.”
“We’re rolling this policy out in the U.S. in the coming weeks and will expand to other regions in the coming months,” the chief executive said. “The implementation will vary according to local conditions and regulations, and will not apply until vaccines are widely available in your area.”
He said local leads will share further guidance with employees, including “details on an exceptions process for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical or other protected reasons.”
Pichai added that he hopes these steps “will give everyone greater peace of mind as offices reopen.”
Facebook
Hours after Google’s announcement, Facebook said Wednesday it will require anyone working at its U.S. campuses to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Implementation of the new policy will hinge on “local conditions and regulations,” Facebook Vice President of People Lori Goler said in a statement to ABC News. There will be a “process” for those who will be exempt from the mandate, such as for medical reasons, Goler said.
ABC News has requested further details on the testing protocols and action for failure to adhere to the requirement.
“We continue to work with experts to ensure our return to office plans prioritize everyone’s health and safety,” said Goler, who noted that Facebook will be evaluating its approach outside the U.S. “as the situation evolves.”
Facebook is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and has offices in over 80 cities worldwide.
Washington Post
Some staff members at the Washington Post on Tuesday shared on Twitter that the company announced it was mandating vaccines.
In a memo sent to employees and shared with ABC News by the Washington Post, publisher and CEO Frederick J. Ryan, Jr. announced the mandate and said employees must also “demonstrate proof of full COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment.”
The Post, which employs more than a thousand journalists and is aiming for a mid-September reopening, said accommodations will be provided to people with “genuine medical and religious concerns” and that they will need to document them with the human resources team.
“Even though the overwhelming majority of Post employees have already provided proof of vaccination, I do not take this decision lightly,” Ryan said in the memo. “However, in considering the serious health issues and genuine safety concerns of so many Post employees, I believe the plan is the right one.”
St. Jude’s, Houston Methodist and more hospitals
The health care sector, perhaps unsurprisingly, has been one of the industries with the most vaccination requirements.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that all patient-facing health care workers in state-run hospitals are required to get vaccinated. “That is a point of contact, that could be a serious spreading event, we want to make sure those workers are vaccinated period,” Cuomo said Wednesday.
At St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital, staff were informed earlier this month that they had a Sept. 9 deadline to get vaccinated. “By September 10, employees who have refused vaccination or do not have an approved medical or religious exemption will be put on an unpaid administrative leave for two weeks,” wrote Dr. James R. Downing, president and CEO of the Memphis hospital. “Those who fail to start the vaccination process will be terminated at the end of the two-week period.”
The Houston Methodist hospital system in Texas, which oversees eight hospitals and has more than 26,000 employees, set a June 7 deadline for staffers to get the vaccine or risk suspension and termination. More than 175 staffers at the Houston Methodist hospital were temporarily suspended without pay last month after not complying with a mandate, and a lawsuit was filed against the hospital. A Texas judge sided with the hospital, tossing out the lawsuit filed by 117 employees who were against getting the shot.
Delta Airlines
Delta Airlines came out ahead of the curve on vaccine mandates. The airliner said in May that it would require all new hires in the U.S. to be vaccinated against COVID-19 unless they qualify for an accommodation.
The Atlanta-headquartered company with some 91,000 full-time workers has said it will not be putting in place a company-wide mandate to require current employees to be vaccinated, though the new hires vaccine requirement kicked in on May 17.
Disney
The Walt Disney Company announced Friday that all salaried and non-union hourly employees in the U.S. must be fully vaccinated.
Employees working in-person who aren’t already vaccinated have 60 days to do so as of July 30 while most employees working from home must provide proof of vaccination before returning, said Paul Richardson, Disney’s senior executive vice president and chief human resources officer.
Richardson said the company is also developing vaccination protocols for employees outside the U.S.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
ABC News’ Sasha Pezenik contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Investing platform Robinhood officially became a publicly-listed company Thursday, making its Wall Street debut on the Nasdaq under the trading ticker $HOOD.
Robinhood co-founders Vlad Tenev (the current chief executive officer) and Baiju Bhatt (the chief creative officer) rang the Nasdaq’s opening bell in Times Square on Thursday morning, surrounded by colleagues and family members. Tenev carried his young daughter on his hip as his company made its initial public offering.
Trading opened to the public at $38 per share, giving it a valuation of some $32 billion. By mid-day the stock fell slightly, trading at around $35 per share.
Robinhood exploded in popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic as swaths of retail investors turned to its commission-free trading services. It became embroiled in controversy amid the GameStop short-squeeze, when an army of retail investors attempted to take on Wall Street firms that were betting against the video game retailer.
As individual investors pushed the price of GameStop shares up, Robinhood and other trading platforms abruptly halted trading of the stock — leading to allegations they were doing so at the urging of hedge funds and short sellers. The company has denied this, saying the temporary halt was due to clearinghouse-mandated deposit requirements that skyrocketed amid the volatility.
Still, Robinhood’s Tenev was called to testify before lawmakers and the fallout of the GameStop saga left Wall Street reeling for months.
Robinhood has repeatedly said its mission is to “democratize finance for all.” The firm on Thursday celebrated what it saw as bringing its Main Street clientele to Wall Street via its Nasdaq listing. Some 50% of Robinhood users are first-time investors.
“The U.S. stock market is one of the world’s greatest sources of wealth creation. But for generations, it was out of reach for most people,” Tenev and Bhatt said in a joint statement Thursday celebrating the IPO. “Robinhood changed that — we’ve built investing products for everyday people, to put them in control of their financial futures.”
“Our listing day is a celebration of our customers — Generation Robinhood,” the statement added. “Through Robinhood, millions of everyday people have started investing in the stock market for the first time.”
Tenev and Bhatt said these new everyday investors are “making their voices heard through the markets, transforming our financial system in the process.”
(NEW YORK) — Trevor Milton, the billionaire founder of electric truck manufacturer Nikola, was hit with securities fraud charges from federal prosecutors in New York City on Thursday.
In a nearly 50-page indictment, prosecutors accused Milton of preying on vulnerable retail investors who had turned to trading after losing income due to the pandemic. In some cases, these victims lost their retirement savings, authorities said, as they outlined his web of false promises related to an electric truck that was never operable.
“Milton’s scheme targeted individual, non-professional investors — so-called retail investors — by making false and misleading statements,” the indictment said.
Milton is in custody and due to appear later Thursday.
Authorities had been investigating Milton and Nikola for more than a year after short seller Hindenburg Research called the firm an “intricate fraud” in a September report.
The company subsequently conceded video of its electric truck gave a misleading impression it was actually drivable. The company also said Milton had made inaccurate statements about the technology behind the vehicle. Federal prosecutors agreed.
The false promotional video for the semi-truck prototype known as Nikola One was referenced heavily in the indictment. The concept included a shot of the Nikola One coming to a stop in front of a stop sign, according to the indictment.
“In order to accomplish this feat with a vehicle that could not drive, the Nikola One was towed to the top of hill, at which point the ‘driver’ released the brakes, and the truck rolled down the hill until being brought to a stop in front of the stop sign,” prosecutors wrote. “For additional takes, the truck was towed to the top of the hill and rolled down the hill twice more.”
Moreover, the door had to be taped to the vehicle during the shoot “to prevent it from falling off,” prosecutors wrote. Batteries were also entirely removed from the vehicle during the shoot, which was attended by Milton. According to prosecutors, this was to “mitigate the risk of fire, explosion, or damage.”
Phoenix-based Nikola planned to build battery- and hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered heavy trucks for long-haul trucking and the company had been valued at more than $12 billion dollars. The doubts raised by short sellers and regulators have tanked the stock price and scuttled a deal with General Motors to take a stake in the company.
Prosecutors said Milton lied at every turn about the company’s ability to produce its electric truck.
According to the indictment, Milton made false and misleading statements about the company’s success in creating a fully-functioning Nikola One prototype when he knew that the prototype was inoperable. He also made false statements about an electric and hydrogen powered pickup truck known as the Badger using Nikola’s parts and technology when he knew that was not true, the indictment claimed.
“Among the retail investors who ultimately invested in Nikola were investors who had no prior experience in the stock market and had begun trading during the COVID-19 pandemic to replace or supplement lost income or to occupy their time while in lockdown,” prosecutors wrote.
When it emerged that Milton’s statements were false and misleading, the value of Nikola’s stock plummeted.
“As a result, some of the retail investors that Milton’s fraudulent scheme targeted suffered tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars in losses, including, in certain cases, the loss of their retirement savings or funds that they had borrowed to invest in Nikola,” the indictment added.
