Biglaw

Biglaw Firms Offering Paid Time Off For Lawyers, Staff To Get COVID Vaccines

Some firms are willing to pay extra to get back to business as usual.

By  
on

With the COVID-19 vaccine rollout underway across the country, lawyers and staff members alike are still wondering what their Biglaw firms are planning to do. The move to work remotely due to the spread of the deadly novel coronavirus came quickly, but decisions related to vaccination plans seem to be moving in reverse warp speed.

At the moment, it seems as if many firms will be encouraging, not requiring (like Davis Wright Tremaine), employees to receive vaccinations before returning to the office. Some of those firms will even offer paid time off to make it easier for people to get the job done for their own and others’ safety.

Dechert is offering lawyers and staff across the globe up to eight hours of paid leave to get their shots, and Norton Rose Fulbright is offering the same to its U.S. personnel. The American Lawyer has additional details:

“Health and safety is a priority for us, so we are giving our people up to eight hours of paid time off to get their COVID-19 vaccinations,” Norton Rose U.S. managing partner Jeff Cody said in a statement. …

Dechert CEO Henry Nassau and policy committee chair Andy Levander put the vaccine news in the context of a wider update about the firm’s plans for returning to the office.

“The widening availability of vaccines, along with the improving overall trends in COVID-19 cases, have us optimistic that we’ll be able to start getting together in person again soon,” the pair said. “This will be a gradual and thoughtful process and will be specific to each individual location, but we know many of you are looking forward to meeting again with friends, clients and colleagues.”

Other firms, like Hogan Lovells and Robinson & Cole, have said employees need not use paid time off, or existing time off, to get their vaccinations (R&C will allocate an additional four hours of PTO in New York and two hours in other state offices). If this is the way that the legal profession can finally return to business as usual, then it’s no wonder that firms are willing to allow personnel to take their time to do it.

What are your law firm’s plans when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines? Let us know.

Dechert, Norton Rose Fulbright to Offer Paid Leave for COVID Shots [American Lawyer]

Sponsored

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sponsored

Topics

, , ,