This will be very interesting as the vaccine rolls out. Who'd be an employer now when you will have to juggle staff who won't want to come in to a work environment unless everyone has been vaccinated, and then others who for whatever reason do not want to be vaccinated...
I doubt that is a valid reason - staff can decide to vaccinate themselves (when it becomes generally available) - they can't insist others need to...
I wonder if a hospital employee or patient will sue the HSE for failure to prevent hospital acquired Covid. After all hospitals are all over infection control but they seem to be failing big time against this virus. I know of a hospital Porter who missed out on the vaccine because he was self isolating due to being a close contact. Went back to work a few days later and caught the virus. Should he sue? I have seen people say that after several week stay in hospital they suddenly turn up positive. Should they sue?
I'd be interested in seeing the current data for MRSA in hospitals now that the doctors and nurses are actually bothering to clean their hands.There have been cases brought by patients who acquired infections in hospitals during surgery e.g. MRSA and I think they had to show negligence.
There are limits to that - employers usually can't force vaccinations upon staff (there are exceptions - e.g. soldiers in some armies have to accept vaccinations against their will).
If vaccines become widely available - then staff can decide to get the vaccine - I do not see how and why this vaccinated staff can demand that colleagues need to be vaccinated as well. There is no reason to ask for that and there is no lack of care on the employer side as it is then with the staff to get the vaccine for themselves and that vaccinated staff is not effected if others are not vaccinated.
Can employers make it a mandatory health & safety requirement for employees to be vaccinated?
If an employer could show that having a vaccine is the most reasonably practicable way of mitigating the risk of Covid-19, having carried out a risk assessment, it could in theory also mandate the vaccination as a health and safety requirement. It would, however, be risky to say that a refusal to get the vaccine would necessarily amount to a health and safety breach by the employee warranting disciplinary action.
Good article - thanks
It is definitely some sort of minefield - the government already declared that there won't be mandatory vaccinations.
Requiring staff to get the vaccine is likely doable in the Health and Care sector, etc - questionable though for Blue Collar jobs...
GDPR, Constitutional rights, Discrimination, ...
Not that I am advocating people sue, it’s just if I was on a jury I would be very sympathetic.
That is poorly worded imho - first the vaccines are highly efficient. The people who are not vaccinated are primarily a risk to people who can't be a vaccinated due to medical risks. And if a wide percentage of the population got the vaccine we would have then herd immunity. You never will have everyone vaccinated in the first place.An employer may seek to redeploy individuals who decline the vaccine or may seek to have them continue to work remotely until such time as the country has reached full vaccination, at which point employees who have not been vaccinated pose less risk to their colleagues who have been vaccinated.
Another scenario that could arise is if an employee is required to travel for work. An employer will need to know if the employee has been vaccinated so that they can assess the risk of sending that person on a work trip abroad.
Ms McEnery said employers are awaiting guidance from the Data Protection Commissioner. "When we get guidance from the Data Protection Commissioner we'll know more about what we can ask, which is another advantage."
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