Question:
I’ve worked for my employer for nine months. I’ve weathered the starts and stops of being pulled back into the office after working from home for months and then being furloughed. When we were told we had to take part in sanitation duties, including bathroom clean up, I pitched in without complaint.
But I draw the line, and so do my coworkers, at what happened last week. My employer sent out an email saying we all need to get vaccinated if we want to keep our jobs. I refuse to inject a vaccine into my body that the federal Food and Drug Administration hasn’t yet approved, because once someone injects this vaccine, I can’t take it back out. Also, my mom and two of my friends had miserable experiences with their second shot.
Can my employer really fire me if I don’t get vaccinated?
Answer:
Possibly. Because COVID-19 can transmit easily the workplace and can prove fatal, employers have a strong business case for requiring employee vaccinations, particularly in organizations that serve vulnerable populations, such as hospitals.
The Houston Methodist Hospital network, which employs 26,000 workers across six hospitals and a medical center, is mandating vaccines for both existing employees and new hires, unless the individual has a legally approved exemption. Employees who won’t comply will be suspended without pay, and later terminated, a policy the hospital feels key to keeping patients safe.1
Your employer may require that you and your coworkers get vaccinated as long as the requirement is job-related, consistent with business necessity, and allows for legally protected exemptions, such as employees with disabilities or who hold anti-vaccination religious beliefs. As of May 2021, the FDA has authorized three COVID-19 vaccines for emergency use, Pfizer BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson and Johnson.
Employers that mandate vaccinations need to develop a policy and to plan how to handle employees refusing vaccinations. At a minimum, employers need to ask “why.” When the Red Hook Tavern fired wait staff Bonnie Jacobsen, they learned she resisted the vaccine for fear it could hurt her chances for becoming pregnant. The restaurant is now revising their policies.2
Employers choosing to mandate also need to watch for shifting political winds. Multiple states are already contemplating legislation prohibiting businesses from making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory.3
Employers with employees that work remotely or whose employee don’t want the vaccine may decide to allow employees personal choice. At the same time, some employees and customers may decide they won’t work for or frequent an employer who employs unvaccinated workers. Vaccination appears to be gaining in popularity, with data showing that 50.4% of American adults have had at least one shot.4
Finally, your employer needs to decide how to handle the morale cost of instituting a policy you and your coworkers hate. Can they afford to lose all of you? Could they instead encourage you to reconsider vaccination, by providing you the newest information on vaccine safety and helping you understand how vaccinations make for a safer workplace? Could they offer to cover any cost associated with getting vaccinated and to provide you with paid time off if you experience side effects?
1COVID-19 Vaccine Mandated For Texas Hospital Employees (msn.com)
2N.Y. Restaurant Fires Waitress Who Wouldn’t Get Covid-19 Vaccine – The New York Times (nytimes.com)
My understanding is that it is not legal for an employer to require an employee to get a vaccine that has only been approved for “emergency use”. I had a major reaction to the 2015 H1N1 flu shot and have been told by three separate medical providers that I am not a good candidate for future vaccines- ever. The current climate of fear that is causing people to start wanting “mandatory” vaccination and for people to carry “vaccine passports” is therefore alarming to me. I’m not anti-vax at all and I’m glad so many people are participating, but I think everyone should have a choice and no one should have to defend their reasons.
Dee, thank you for a thoughtful response. I’ve often written about vaccinations, and earlier wrote that there were risks to employers from mandating or even incentivizing vaccinations. The tide has been turning, and there is even talk that employees may hold their employers liable for not mandating vaccinations and thus exposing them to danger.
You have a strong experience with a former vaccine and if your medical advisors continue to tell you to be cautious, I agree that you need to listen to individuals who have medical expertise and awareness of your physical history. I also believe that vaccinated individuals will be given greater freedom than nonvaccinated individuals. I’ll try to stay on top of the shifting “expert” HR and attorney advice. You can as well, on http://www.shrm.org which allows (or did in the throes of the pandemic) non-SHRM individuals to access their website.
In short, yes the employer can, but as you note, the cost in employee anger and dissatisfaction could be high and damaging to morale. The idea of giving incentives and trying to have fun with it while getting more people to get vaccinated seems to be a better approach.