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WA’s Workplace Vaccine Mandate
WA’s Workplace Vaccine BENJAMIN HAMILTON Mandate In the event of a lockdown, police may ask for proof of vaccination in a criticaloccupation. ADMINISTRATION, MARKETING & SALES, VEGETABLESWA
Last month the WA Government released a mandatory vaccination policy for the majority of occupations and workforces in WA. This policy will be introduced as a phased approach and will affect growers in multiple ways.
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The policy follows the existing mandates in place for workers in high-risk industries, including those interacting with people at an increased risk of being infected with COVID-19, or people who are vulnerable to the impacts of COVID-19, or where it is necessary to avoid catastrophic risk to the safety of the community. The policy's phased approach is to apply mandatory vaccinations for more industries in WA and a requirement for other critical workers to be vaccinated to attend work in the event of a lockdown or similar restrictions.
f GROWERS must be aware that their businesses may fit into multiple vaccine mandate categories.
So, how will this affect horticultural businesses?
Growers must be aware that their businesses may fit into multiple vaccine mandate categories. For the most part, these mandates will fall into Group 2 and Group 3 ‘in the event of a lockdown’.
Group 2 industries and occupations:
First dose by 31 December 2021 and fully vaccinated by 31 January 2022: • Commercial transport, freight or logistics • Supermarket, grocery, butcher, fruit and vegetable store or fishmonger; indoor or outdoor food market. Group 3 ‘In the event of a lockdown’:
Must be fully vaccinated to attend work during a lockdown or similar restrictions: • Primary industries (necessary to provide food to and care of animals and maintenance of crops) • Production and distribution of food and groceries, liquor, medical and pharmaceutical products • Commercial operations that supply goods or services for the implementation of measures to limit the spread of COVID-19; necessary to support any critical business activities or to support the export of goods and services from WA.
It is important to note that group 1 and group 2 mandates are under the Health Act and will be monitored by the Department of Health.
Whereas the group 3 ‘in the event of lockdown’ mandate is under the Emergency Management Act and consequently monitored by the WA Police. In the event of a lockdown, police may ask for proof of vaccination and employment in a critical occupation. In the event of a lockdown, any workers proceeding to work during the event are required to be vaccinated. Therefore, employers will need to know the vaccination status of their employees, or they could be faced with penalties from $20,000 – $100,000.
What can you ask your employee?
Read below information provided by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner: • An employer can only require an employee to provide evidence of their vaccination in particular circumstances and if an employer intends to collect employees’ vaccination status to a record, they must be satisfied that this collection is permitted under Australian Privacy
Principle (APP) 3. However, an employer must seek consent in order to collect employees’ vaccination status information; an employer cannot pressure or intimidate an employee to provide this information. • An employee’s reason for choosing to not have the COVID-19 vaccination and any medical evidence related to this decision is sensitive information under the Privacy Act. This information can only be collected with consent unless there is a public health order or direction — that requires your employer to collect your vaccination status information and reasons for non-vaccination. • If an employer requests employees’ consent to collect vaccination status information, they are required to be transparent about why the information is being collected, and how it will be used, in line with
APP 1.
COVID-19: Vaccinations and my privacy rights as an employee: www.oaic.
gov.au/privacy/covid-19/covid-19vaccinations-and-my-privacy-rights-asan-employee
vegetablesWA will continue to update its grower members on the latest updates on the mandatory vaccination policy.
MORE INFORMATION
This information was produced from The Department of Health and the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner COVID-19 information webpages. For more information visit: • COVID-19: Vaccinations and my privacy rights as an employee: www.oaic.gov.au/
privacy/covid-19/covid-19-vaccinationsand-my-privacy-rights-as-an-employee
• Mandatory COVID-19 Vaccination
