Chiefs wrestle over rights and wrongness in ‘No jab, no job’ | Employment Law

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After a turbulent 18 months running online retail during the pandemic, Julie Jones now faces a new challenge.

One of its eight employees decided not to get vaccinated against Covid-19. The company, which is based in northwest England, operates in a small office space, and having one unvaccinated member causes health and financial concerns for Jones (not her real name) and her other employees.

“It’s a tough situation. I’m between a rock and a hard place. I’d really like to have been stabbed, but I feel like it’s a personal choice,” said Julie.

“It’s not a place for healthcare, and I don’t feel like it’s my place as an employer to ask her to do something medically that she’s not comfortable with. But I’m also very concerned about the potential impact on work if I go out with Covid and the rest of us are forced into isolation.”

Despite this, Jones decided not to tell her employees that they needed a full vaccination to enter the office, fearing that it would result in the loss of a valued team member.

“She’s a wonderful employee and I’d rather risk her not being challenged than risk an argument and possibly leave her because of it,” she said.

Thousands of businesses and organizations of all sizes are considering how best to safely return workers to their offices after several months of working remotely. They also understand that requiring their employees to be vaccinated is an ethical and legal minefield.

Like Jones, some employers fear that a “no cake, no job” policy can at best risk resignations, or at worst leave them vulnerable to legal claims for unfair dismissal or discrimination. As a result, companies are divided over how best to protect employees during a large-scale return to the office.

Many workers said they would feel safer in the workplace if they knew that other co-workers had been fully immunized. Nearly a quarter of business managers (24%) said they would only be willing to work with colleagues who have experienced a double whammy, according to a recent survey by the Chartered Institute of Management. The survey found that employees 55 or older were more likely than younger people to say they only wanted to share a workspace with full immunizations.

Large American companies have adopted the policy of compulsory vaccination with greater enthusiasm than their British counterparts. US financial firms, which have been the most vocal in their desire to bring workers back to the office, were among the first to tell their teams that only fully vaccinated employees can return to their headquarters.

Morgan Stanley, the bank of Wall Street, will only allow employees into its New York office when they return in September. Others will have to work at home.

Vanguard, one of the world’s largest investment firms, approaches this issue differently; It is offering US employees a $1,000 (£718) ‘Covid incentive’ if they can show proof of vaccination by October.

After an increase in Covid cases in the United States due to the spread of the delta variant, the tech giant Google told its employees that they will have to get vaccinated to return to the company’s premises. CEO Sundar Pichai told workers that the policy would initially be implemented in the United States before being adopted globally. Other US tech companies, including Uber and Facebook, have said employees should be vaccinated.

But in the UK, making vaccination a requirement to return to the workplace could leave employers vulnerable to charges of discrimination or even unfair dismissal, according to employment lawyers.

The government has had to pass legislation to force care homes to ensure that all workers in England, without medical exemption, are fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and this will take effect in November.

Requiring workers to be vaccinated “arguably is a human rights violation: you have the right not to undergo a medical procedure,” said Catherine Evans, head of labor law at Trethuans. “You have a whole host of issues, from an employment contract not requiring someone to be vaccinated, to unfair dismissal lawsuits, to discrimination.”

Labor rights enshrined in law for UK workers mean that employers are expected to tread carefully.

Sharon Birch preferred encouragement to coercion for her nursery staff. Photo: charity

Sharon Birch, who owns Footprints Learning for Life in Hartlepool, preferred encouragement to coercion for her employees. She preferred to vaccinate her staff, to protect themselves, their colleagues, and some of the most vulnerable children they looked after. One of Birch’s teams of 35 initially decided not to vaccinate her, while her youngest employees were still waiting called for their appointments.

“I don’t want to force it. I sat down and had a chat with a staff member and discussed the reasons behind it, not necessarily to convince her, but to understand her motives. We discussed the benefits of the vaccine and now I went and got my first vaccine.”

“I think we have a responsibility to the families we take care of to give them the best possible protection, by being responsible.”

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