Sack the Anti-Vaxxers?

A recent survey has found that 23% of employers are planning to mandate that their staff are vaccinated against COVID-19. No doubt, these employers are influenced by a concern that they will be breaching their duty of care to their staff if they permit unvaccinated employees to roam freely in the workplace.

However, mandatory vaccinations are fraught with difficulty. First, there is the risk of discrimination claims. Second there is the question of how do you make it mandatory. Finally, if the ultimate sanction is to dismiss, there will be a risk of unfair dismissal claims. Given the fact that the government hasn't mandated the vaccine and ACAS guidelines promote a voluntary approach, it seems unlikely that any resulting dismissals will be fair, apart from in exceptional circumstances.

On balance, for most employers a voluntary approach will be best, but supported by effective communications about vaccine benefits.

One other serious consideration: whether mandatory or not, records of who has and has not been vaccinated must be kept confidential to respect people's privacy and protect them from bullying and harassment from people who don't agree with their choice. The vaxxers may need educating about freedom of choice too.

A link to the Global Recruiter article which inspired this blog can be found here: https://www.theglobalrecruiter.com/plan-to-mandate/