17/02/2021
With the coronavirus vaccination programme well underway in the UK, many employers are considering what vaccination might mean for their business. Some companies are announcing that they will dismiss or refuse to recruit employees who aren’t vaccinated. With 23 per cent of employers telling an HRLocker survey that they plan to make vaccination compulsory, everyone wants to know whether a ‘no jab, no job’ policy is legal.
Although as yet untested, a blanket ‘no jab, no job’ policy will be difficult for most employers to justify. The vaccine is not compulsory, so an employment tribunal is unlikely to welcome an employer trying to make it obligatory via the back door. Such a policy applied to everyone could put people with ethical or religious views at a disadvantage and give rise to indirect discrimination claims. Forcing someone to take a vaccine might also infringe on their human rights.
However, whilst for most employers, this policy won’t be justifiable, there are some workplaces where vaccination is more mission critical, such as medical environments and care homes. In these workplaces, the chances of defending such a dismissal are much greater. As always, a fair procedure must be followed, including exploring redeployment from the frontline for those who refuse the jab.
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