EEOC says employers can mandate workers to get COVID-19 vaccine [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), employers can mandate employees to get the COVID-19 vaccine before returning back to work.
• Unvaccinated workers who have legitimate excuses could either wear face masks or work remotely.
•  In a recent survey by Arizona State University, 90 percent of employers said that they would urge their workers to get vaccinated.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued an updated guidance on Friday stating that employers had the legal right to mandate workers to obtain COVID-19 vaccine before they can physically report for duty.

The EEOC also said that employers should offer “reasonable accommodations” for workers who opted not to get the shots for valid reasons such as disability, pregnancy or religious beliefs. In this setup, employees would need to wear face masks or do remote work.

The agency also approved employers’ decision to give benefits or other incentives for vaccinated workers, provided that the rewards are “not so substantial as to be coercive.”

“A very large incentive could make employees feel pressured to disclose protected medical information,” the commission added.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Bolthouse Farms food manufacturing will provide a $500 bonus for its vaccinated workers while Dollar General retailing will give an extra four hours of salary for employees who have vaccination proofs.

Since COVID-19 vaccines became widely available across the US, numerous employees had been caught off guard by their employers’ command to get vaccinated.

“It was shocking to me,” ex-Brooklyn waitress Bonnie Jacobson told The Post after losing her job last February. “I went through the stages: I’m hurt, I’m in shock — then I got mad.”

In a report by MarketWatch this month, employees nationwide have attempted to seek legal protection from courts to oppose vaccination policies mandated by employers.

A major argument always brought up by workers is that vaccines which had been given an emergency approval can only be administered on a voluntary basis. So far, there is no COVID-19 vaccine that already got a standard clearance from the Food and Drug Administration.

Based on an April survey by Arizona State University, nearly 90 percent of employers had considered that their workers should avail of the vaccines, and 60 percent of them said that they would ask for evidence.

Per the latest tracking of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, around 51 percent of American adults had already received their full COVID-19 vaccinations.

Source: New York Post