COMPLIANCE
Mandating Employee Covid-19 Vaccinations By EMILY H. MACK
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everal businesses — including Aldi, Dollar General and Instacart — have recently announced plans to offer employee vaccination incentives. As the vaccine becomes readily available, other employers will likely express interest in encouraging their employees to get vaccinated. Some may make it a requirement, but could find that enforcing a mandatory vaccination policy requires specific adjustments to reap the benefits of a vaccinated workforce, while remaining legally compliant. If regional health authorities endorse vaccination as their
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official recommendation for protecting citizens from Covid19, it could create a standard (or at least a general expectation) that employers will encourage or require vaccination to ensure workplace safety. Additionally, some businesses may be concerned that they could face negative outcomes if they don’t require employees to be vaccinated. These concerns range from loss of productivity due to employee sick days to facing lawsuits resulting from coworkers or customers testing positive for Covid-19 after contact with an unvaccinated employee.
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Generally, employers have the right to establish mandatory vaccination policies so long as they make reasonable accommodations for employees who refuse. If an employee refuses to get vaccinated, and the employer determines that the unvaccinated employee poses a “direct threat” (i.e., that the unvaccinated employee would cause significant risk of substantial harm to the health or safety of the employee or others), that individual could potentially be terminated. Certain exceptions, though, could apply. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which prohibits disBACK TO CONTENTS
