Lidl to offer extra pay to U.S. employees who get COVID-19 vaccine

Lidl is the latest U.S. retailer to offer incentives to its workers to get vaccinated.

The discount grocer will give U.S. employees $200 in extra pay who choose to get a COVID-19 vaccine. Lidl, which said it will also accommodate employee schedules for vaccine appointments, joins Aldi, Dollar General, Trader Joe’s and Instacart who are also offering financial incentives for employees to get vaccinated. 

Nearly eight in 10 of its employees plan to get the vaccine as soon as it became available, the company said.  Lidl is also providing employees with information about the availability of vaccines in their locality and continues to work with state and local officials to ensure workers are a priority for vaccine distribution.

"We are proud to provide our employees the resources they need to receive the COVID-19 vaccine free of any obstacles," said Johannes Fieber, CEO of Lidl U.S. "From the outset of the pandemic, we have worked hard to put the health and safety of our employees first. From offering free COVID-19 healthcare to our entire workforce, to installing hospital-grade air filtration in our stores and warehouses to assure cleaner and healthier air, Lidl has made it a priority to adapt our policies to work better for our people during this pandemic. We are proud to do so again today to ensure that every team member who wants to get vaccinated is able to do so as soon as possible."

The Germany-based Lidl operates about 11,200 stores and is active in 32 countries. It first established its U.S. headquarters in 2015, in Arlington County, Virginia, and now has more than 125 U.S. stores across nine East Coast states.