Google's staff get pricey fast COVID-19 tests while contractors wait

Google offers its full-time employees moving from location a proviso of high-end instant COVID-19 tests. Meanwhile, the declaration workers inactive coming into offices person to hold longer for results.

The Alphabet Inc. institution allows U.S. full-time employees and their dependents to petition COVID-19 tests from Cue Health Inc., which supply results astatine location wrong a fewer minutes, according to a papers reviewed by Bloomberg. Contract workers who indispensable study in-person to Google's offices person PCR tests by BioIQ that they tin hole and message into a lab, according to a papers that the Alphabet Workers Union tweeted Tuesday.

Convenient entree to high-quality COVID-19 investigating has go a marker of societal inequities successful the U.S. Amid a surge of microorganism cases owed to the dispersed of the omicron variant, lines for tests person grown agelong crossed the country, portion supplies of at-home tests person winnowed and prices for them person ballooned connected the secondary market. Test entree has grown truthful tenuous that U.S. President Joseph Biden connected Monday required insurance companies to screen the outgo of at-home tests, and has said the authorities volition marque 500 cardinal tests disposable for free, though has not inked a contract to bash this.

Google's nonstop employees person agelong enjoyed perks that the company's vendors, impermanent and contract workers, who fig arsenic galore oregon much than nonstop staff, spell without. Contractors, for instance, are not capable to petition an other machine show done Google's intranet and don't person Alphabet banal arsenic portion of their compensation. In the U.S., that disagreement present extends to their health.

"We person galore at-home and in-person viral investigating options disposable escaped to our employees and members of our extended workforce, including temps and vendors," a Google spokesperson said successful a statement. The institution said by providing tests, it was alleviating the existent unit connected nationalist investigating resources.

Google genitor Alphabet straight employs implicit 150,000 people. The institution doesn't disclose its declaration and vendor unit totals.

Google sends employees a Cue instrumentality and 10 rapid, at-home molecular tests, which costs $949 for consumers and are much close than an antigen test, arsenic they tin observe the familial worldly of the virus. Full-time unit who are not required to beryllium connected field tin petition up to 20 further Cue tests per period for themselves and their dependents ages 2 and older done an interior portal, according to 1 of the people. Such employees are allowed to enactment from location indefinitely.

Those who enactment astatine prime U.S. information centers, which includes declaration and temporary workers, person entree to $75 Lucira Check It single-use accelerated tests, according to a papers reviewed by Bloomberg. Google said they besides person entree to Cue readers on-site, but not astatine home. All workers, including contractors, person entree to in-person investigating erstwhile they are astatine large offices successful the San Francisco Bay Area, New York and Seattle, according to 2 radical acquainted with the situation, who asked not to beryllium identified discussing interior policies.

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