VERIFY: Major retailer disputes viral tweet that outlines new employee COVID-19 vaccination policy

ST. LOUIS — A tweet about Missouri has garnered 17,000 retweets and almost 123,000 likes with a controversial claim about a major retailer's vaccination and sick leave policies.

It says that employees risk losing their jobs if they are unvaccinated and then catch COVID-19.

THE QUESTION

Is it true that Lowe's Home Improvement stores in Missouri are offering paid sick leave to vaccinated employees who catch COVID-19 and firing unvaccinated employees who catch COVID-19?

In later tweets, the person making the claim says this Lowe's is located in Springfield, Missouri.

THE SOURCES

Managers at two Lowe's locations in Springfield, Mo.

And Steve Salazar, spokesperson for Lowe's Companies, Inc.

THE ANSWER

This claim is false.

WHAT WE FOUND

The Verify team spoke over the phone with managers at both Lowe's locations in Springfield, Mo. Both said the claim is untrue. They said that they had not heard of a policy like the one described in the tweet, that their existing policies have not changed, and that any such change would need to come from the corporate level.

Steve Salazar, spokesperson for Lowe's Companies, Inc., wrote in a statement, "Lowe's does not terminate employees for contracting COVID-19, regardless of vaccination status, nor do we make sick pay determinations based on vaccination status."

So we can Verify: this tweet is false.