Amazon to Reimburse U.S. Employees Who Travel for Abortions, Other Treatments | Investing News

(Reuters) -Amazon.com Inc, the 2nd-greatest U.S. private employer, told its staff members on Monday it will pay up to $4,000 in journey fees yearly for non-lifestyle threatening health care treatment options together with abortions, according to a concept seen by Reuters.

The decision makes the on-line retailer the latest company just after Citigroup Inc, Yelp Inc and other people to respond to Republican-backed condition rules curbing abortion entry, assisting personnel bypass them. It shows how firms are eager to retain and entice expertise in destinations that continue being critical to their operations despite authorized modifications impacting employees’ overall health.

The U.S. Supreme Courtroom is because of to rule by the close of June in a situation that gives its conservative the greater part a chance to roll back abortion legal rights or even overturn the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized the treatment nationwide. About two dozen states like Oklahoma and Alabama have legislation poised to limit abortion access should really the Roe ruling be overturned.

Amazon’s new benefit, efficient to Jan. 1 retroactively, applies if an operation is not out there inside of 100 miles (161 km) of an employee’s residence and digital treatment is not probable, the company’s message reported. It is open to U.S. workforce or coated dependents enrolled in Premera or Aetna wellbeing designs, whether they perform in a corporate office environment or a warehouse.

The reimbursements that Amazon introduced on Monday are not certain to abortion. They deliver for other non-existence threatening treatment options this kind of as all around cardiology, cellular gene therapies and substance-abuse dysfunction services as properly. Individually, Amazon presents up to $10,000 in yearly journey reimbursements for lifetime-threatening challenges.

The news arrived on the day Amazon stopped offering paid time off for U.S. staff identified with COVID-19, letting them have five days of excused unpaid leave as a substitute. Amazon workers at a warehouse in New York are possessing their votes counted on Monday as very well that will establish irrespective of whether the facility unionizes. A group of recent and former personnel acknowledged as the Amazon Labor Union has pushed for better shell out and job stability.

(Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin in Palo Alto, Calif. Modifying by Will Dunham and Chizu Nomiyama)

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