Employers can require workers to get COVID-19 vaccine [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• About 40 percent of Americans claimed that they don’t want to get the COVID-19 vaccine shots.
• Employers consider requiring their workers to get vaccinated. Otherwise, they will suffer the consequences of getting fired.
• There are a few exceptions that employees could refer to if they don’t want to take the vaccine.

According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, about 40 percent of Americans said that they would be unlikely to get vaccinated. Experts claimed that at least 70 percent of the nation’s population should either take the shots or have natural antibodies.

On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration could issue the emergency clearance to Pfizer and BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine, the first vaccine developed to fight the coronavirus. Massive distribution is anticipated to start in just a matter of days.

The vaccine is already available, but almost 5 out of 10 Americans are skeptical of taking it. So how could they be persuaded? Employers, on their part, are considering making it mandatory. If an employee refuses to get vaccinated, he or she can be fired.

A Dallas labor and employment attorney, Rogge Dunn said that “a couple” of his “corporate clients are leaning toward making the COVID vaccine mandatory.”

Ranging from manufacturing businesses to food and beverage companies, Dunn’s clients were just some of the establishments that were badly hit due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. The vaccine could ultimately become the tool to get a life go back to its normal routine, which for these businesses, could mean gaining back their lost earnings.

One client coming from the restaurant business noted that a compulsory vaccination could become a game-changer, Dunn said.

“They think it gives them a competitive advantage,” he argued. “They could say to their customers, ‘Hey, our restaurant is safe. All of our employees have been vaccinated.’”

Partly, it could be just a PR strategy. Dunn, though, said that it’s within the employer’s prerogative to demand such requirement from its employees.

“Under the law, an employer can force an employee to get vaccinated, and if they don’t take it, fire them,” said Dunn. 

Managing Moderna’s vaccine development in clinical trials, Dr. Hana El Sahly noted that hospitals could set COVID inoculation mandatory for all health care workers, same with how the yearly vaccine for influenza was compulsory to all hospital staff.

“We all have to demonstrate that we took our flu shot before we go out and see our patients on the wards… When we are sick, we cannot deliver vital functions to the community,” she said.

A few exceptions, however, could counteract this potential mandatory ruling. For instance, when there is a union within a workforce, the union could negotiate with the management through the collective bargaining agreement.

In addition, anti-discrimination laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act can be cited by employees with medical conditions as an exception to taking the vaccine.

In the meantime, Dunn has advised his clients to wait for at least three months before considering implementing such an act.

Source: CNBC.com