A federal agency said last week that employers can legally mandate employees to receive the coronavirus vaccine or deny them access to work if they refuse.
Guidelines came as millions of doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine were distributed in the United States, with the first inoculation taking place early last month. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has already published updated guidelines on the vaccine following several allergic reactions in several states.
What are the details?
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidance Wednesday saying that requiring workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine does not violate the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act, which prohibits employers from requiring “medical examinations such as blood tests, breath tests and blood pressure screening.” “To get medical information about the workers, the New York Times reported.
“If a vaccine is given to an employee by an employer for protection against COVID-19, the employer is not looking for information about a person’s deficiencies or current health status and therefore is not a medical examination,” the EEOC said.
However, the agency said questions before the vaccine could complicate matters.
Although the administration of a vaccination is not a medical examination, questions about vaccination before screening may involve the provisions of the ADA on disability-related surveys, which are surveys likely to obtain information about a disability. If the employer administers the vaccine, the employer must demonstrate that such preliminary questions he asks employees are “work-related and in line with business needs”.
What about religious exceptions?
For employees whose “religious belief, practice or observance prevents them” from receiving the vaccine, the EEOC said employers must provide “reasonable accommodation” for workers “unless it would be an unjustified difficulty under Title VII of the Rights Act. civil. “
Religious beliefs or disabilities, of course, would not allow an employer to dismiss a worker who refused the COVID-19 vaccine.
“If an employee cannot be vaccinated for COVID-19 because of a disability or has sincerely supported religious belief, practice or respect and reasonable accommodation is not possible, then it would be legal for the employer to exclude the employee from the workplace, “said the EEOC.
“This does not mean that the employer can automatically dismiss the worker,” the agency added.