BOSTON (WHDH) - With an end to capacity limits and business restrictions in Massachusetts just days away, many local employers are uncertain about how the public will adjust and concerned about staffing issues.
At Sip Café in Boston’s Post Office Square, ownership says they have noticed an uptick in office workers coming in for food and beverages each week but that business is still down about 75 percent compared to May 2020.
“We’re definitely busier today than we were on Monday,” Sip co-owner Ted Furst said. “We rely on the office workers here and they need to come back.”
Many offices in the Financial District’s skyscrapers remain empty, but some employers are trying to get creative to lure workers back into the city.
“Monday we did a free lunch thing…I say there were like 30, 35 people who came in for an 80-person office,” said Shelby Carey, who works at a downtown real estate firm. “That felt like a lot of people.”
Liberty Mutual told 7NEWS that the majority of its employees will work from home through the end of the summer, while Fidelity Investments said it is in the process of figuring out a plan to get people back to work.
“Our plan to return to the office will be purposeful with coordinated time onsite and offsite to support both business priorities and the diverse work and life needs of associates,” Fidelity said in a statement.
Can an employer require workers to get vaccinated? The answer is “maybe,” according to the state’s website.
“Maybe — unless you are not able to be vaccinated because of a protected legal right such as a disability or sincerely held religious belief,” the state wrote.
Labor lawyer Patrick Curran told 7NEWS that many employers have been asking their employees if they have been vaccinated, which is legal under state law.
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