This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Earlier this month, Nike notified some of their employees that the company planned to fire them on Saturday, January 15th, if they hadn’t met the company’s deadline to verify their COVID-19 vaccine status. With more than a week past the deadline, it’s been revealed that a Nike Marketing Manager has reportedly been fired for not complying with the company’s vaccine mandate. The only problem is, the former Marketing Manager claims to be fully vaccinated.
Dex Briggs is the former Marketing Manager that worked at Nike’s headquarters in Portland, Oregon. He was fired not for being unvaccinated, but for refusing to provide his COVID-19 vaccination status to a third-party verification company. Briggs spoke to The Oregonian about the situation and claims that he is fully vaccinated, despite declining to verify his status.
“I have my vaccination card. I’m quite willing to show you that,” Briggs told The Oregonian. “But I’m not willing to give my personal information to this (outside) company, and any other company they want to share it with, without even telling me who they are.”
Based on the report shared by The Oregonian, Nike employees were required to submit their vaccination status to the third-party verification service. This order allows the outside company to access the employees’ immunization info and confirm with Nike that their vaccine report is accurate. Briggs declined to share this information with the third-party company, which ultimately led to his termination. Nike did allow for some employees to be exempt from the vaccine mandate, just as long as they provided a religious or medical reason.
For more sneaker news, releases and updates, follow @NiceKicks on Twitter.