SAN ANTONIO — Guy Sanders owns the Richter Tavern in Boerne.
“Just like other restaurants there are bad months, but things are loosening up and is on the upswing,” Sanders said.
The business owner says once coronavirus vaccines became available he arranged for his employees to be vaccinated.
Out of about 45 employees, Sanders says most have gotten at least their first doses.
“We’re always under a lot of pressure from customers that don’t want to wear masks or social distance, and neither do we. The quickest way to do that is get our employees vaccinated,” Sanders said.
It’s why he says he enacted a new vaccine policy. The new policy says Sanders will pay employees who get the coronavirus for time off if they’ve been vaccinated, but will no longer pay people for time off who catch the virus and haven’t been vaccinated.
“The policy was released. Someone leaked it online and a lot of people got upset,” Sanders said.
That’s when Sanders took to Facebook to say his business began getting social media threats from people against the vaccine.
“No one was ever forced to get the vaccine at all. The controversy comes out of nowhere and shocked us,” Sanders said.
Now, after getting so much attention on the issue, Sanders says the new vaccination policy is ending.
“If you choose not to get the vaccine, work for me and get sick, I’ll still take care of you -- just like we did before,” Sanders said.