Chobani to pay employees for time spent getting COVID-19 vaccine

TWIN FALLS, Idaho (KMVT/KSVT) — Greek yogurt company Chobani announced it’s one of the first employers to offer paid time off for its workers to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Chobani said Friday it will cover up to six hours of time for its employees to get vaccinated — three hours for each of the two COVID- 19 vaccine doses when available for their workforce.

The company has roughly 2,200 employees across the United States, including Twin Falls.

Peter McGuinness, the president and chief operating officer of the company, said the health and happiness of their employees is their number one priority. They said they were one of the first companies to require face masks, social distancing and temperature checks of employees when the virus hit.

“We just think it the simple right thing to do,” McGuinness said. “We did a very similar thing a few months ago to have them vote. So we closed the company entirely, including the factories to let everyone go vote because it is their civic duty.”

McGuinness said Chobani also plans to deliver food and products to health care workers at St. Luke’s and the South Central Public Health District in the coming days.

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