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On December 16, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) provided guidance to employers considering mandating or encouraging their employees to be vaccinated for COVID-19. The EEOC promulgated the guidance in an update to the commission s updated technical assistance publication,
In sum, the EEOC guidance allows for employers to implement mandatory vaccination policies subject to business necessity, but it reinforces the importance of a thorough process in implementing such a policy and providing accommodations to employees and applicants who indicate that they cannot be vaccinated for religious or disability-related reasons.
The U.S. says employers can require workers to get the Covid-19 vaccine.
A Pittsburgh Veterans Authority Medical Center worker received a Covid-19 vaccine on Thursday. Employers are uniquely positioned to require large numbers of Americans who otherwise would not receive a vaccination to do so.Credit.Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
By Vimal Patel
Dec. 18, 2020
Employers can require workers to get a Covid-19 vaccine and bar them from the workplace if they refuse, the federal government said in guidelines issued this week.
Public health experts see employers as playing an important role in vaccinating enough people to reach herd immunity and get a handle on a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 Americans. Widespread coronavirus vaccinations would keep people from dying, restart the economy and usher a return to some form of normalcy, experts say.
Employers Can Reportedly Require Workers to Get COVID-19 Vaccine
Dec 19, 2020 1:16 PM
7,221 views
Staff Writer
Recently, the FDA supported the endorsement of Pfizer and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines. Now, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has updated guidance on pandemic procedures, noting that companies now have the right to require employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine when it is available to them.
The EEOC issued a statement on the procedure update this past Wednesday, saying, “The ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] allows an employer to have a qualification standard that includes a requirement that an individual shall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of individuals in the workplace.’”
Last week, in our sister blog,
Education Law Notes, we addressed the ability of an employer to mandate the COVID-19 vaccine for its staff. As discussed in that post, we were awaiting updated federal guidance that would specifically address the COVID-19 vaccine. As if on cue, on December 16, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued “technical assistance” guidance addressing several COVID-19 related issues, including an employer vaccine mandate. The latest EEOC guidance provides greater clarity to possible religious or disability exemptions to any employer vaccine mandate (when such vaccines are available).
DISABILITIES AND VACCINE EXEMPTIONS/ACCOMMODATIONS
The EEOC first addresses how an employer requiring vaccinations should respond to an employee who indicates that he or she is unable to receive a COVID-19 vaccination due to a disability.The EEOC construes the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) as providing that an employer must show that a
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As the first wave of COVID-19 vaccinations are being administered across the United States, employers are considering whether to mandate and/or administer the COVID-19 vaccine to employees. On December 16, 2020, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (“EEOC” or “Commission”) released updates to “
The EEOC’s updated guidance offers direction regarding employer-mandated vaccinations, accommodations for employees who cannot be vaccinated due to a disability or sincerely held religious belief, and certain implications of pre-vaccination medical screening questions under the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) and Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”).