Citigroup will fire unvaccinated employees by Jan. 31

Jan. 7 (UPI) -- Citigroup will fire employees who haven't gotten vaccinated against COVID-19 by the end of the month, the company said Friday.

Citigroup is the first major Wall Street bank to enforce the vaccine mandate.

A memo was sent to employees on Friday reminding them about the policy, which was announced in October.

The bank said at the time that proof of vaccination needed to be submitted by mid-January.

Those who don't comply by next week will be put on unpaid leave and terminated by Jan. 31.

More than 90% of the company's employees are in compliance with the mandate, and more are likely to get the vaccine by the end of the month.

As a government contractor, the company said it needed to comply with President Joe Biden's executive order on vaccines.

"As the U.S. government is a large and important client of Citi, we have an obligation to comply with the Executive Order issued by the White House mandating that individuals supporting government contracts be fully vaccinated -- an order that would impact the vast majority of our U.S. colleagues," Sara Wechter, Head of Human Resources, said on LinkedIn.

Requests for religious and medical accommodations will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis, Wechter added.

Citigroup is the third-biggest U.S. bank by assets.