Covid_19 Vaccination

[Gasdiver]

Hi,

My son who is a mobile Gas Engineer works for a Housing Association and he has today received a letter from his Employer headed "Formal Consultation - Mandatory Covid-19 Vaccination Requirement"

He is to enter a period of consultation for a period of fourteen days from the 21st July and finish on the 3rd August 2021 and as part of the new legislation he is required to be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 and subsequent booster vaccinations going forward. The strength of the letter is "if you choose not to be fully vaccinated, you will be subject to dismissal from your current role".

My son as mentioned is a Gas Engineer and has visited care homes twice in eight years of his employment to deliver a temporary fan heater however, they seem to be enforcing this legislation on him for full vaccination or lose your job! I fully understand about getting vaccinated however, I also respect his rights not to have the jabs if he so wishes not to.

There is nothing in his Contract of Employment regarding this and I just need clarification as to what his rights are as an employee to the company.

Many thanks

Pete

[ULA]

Currently there is no laws that says an employee must have the vaccine, even if an employer would prefer someone to have it. That said the government has proposed a change in the law, whereby it would require anyone who works in a care home in England to have the COVID-19 vaccine, unless they have a medical exemption. The plan is to introduce this change later in 2021.

Given the limted contact your son has in a health care setting the employer may have a hard time arguing this qualifies under the proposed new legisltation.

Your son's employer may argue that an instruction to have the vaccine could be regarded as a 'reasonable instruction' on their part but that will depend on the circumstances. Following that line of argument then failure to follow a reasonable instruction can lead to a fair dismissal, most likely 'dismissal for some other substantial reason' (SOSR). However, even where the instruction is reasonable, the dismissal process also has to be fair. Only an employee who unreasonably refuses, taking into account the circumstances and reasonableness of the request to be vaccinated could be fairly dismissed.

If he does not wish to ve vaccinated then he needs to be given, via this consultation process, the opportunity to set out his rationale for the refusal, and the employer will need to consider the reasonableness of this.

I would also be interested in the rationale the employer has for insisting on vaccinations.

[Gasdiver]

Currently there is no laws that says an employee must have the vaccine, even if an employer would prefer someone to have it. That said the government has proposed a change in the law, whereby it would require anyone who works in a care home in England to have the COVID-19 vaccine, unless they have a medical exemption. The plan is to introduce this change later in 2021.

Given the limted contact your son has in a health care setting the employer may have a hard time arguing this qualifies under the proposed new legisltation.

Your son's employer may argue that an instruction to have the vaccine could be regarded as a 'reasonable instruction' on their part but that will depend on the circumstances. Following that line of argument then failure to follow a reasonable instruction can lead to a fair dismissal, most likely 'dismissal for some other substantial reason' (SOSR). However, even where the instruction is reasonable, the dismissal process also has to be fair. Only an employee who unreasonably refuses, taking into account the circumstances and reasonableness of the request to be vaccinated could be fairly dismissed.

If he does not wish to ve vaccinated then he needs to be given, via this consultation process, the opportunity to set out his rationale for the refusal, and the employer will need to consider the reasonableness of this.

I would also be interested in the rationale the employer has for insisting on vaccinations.

Many thanks for your prompt response Ula. I believe he will have to put his case to his employer and se what the outcome will be.

many thanks for your help.

[ULA]

Once he had done that if you or he have any further questions just come back to this thread.

[Law Student 4]

Celestine ULA Employers are encouraged to support the Covid-19 vaccination programme. However, there are currently no laws which makes the vaccine compulsory even if an employer prefers someone to have it. Employers should not force their staff to get the vaccine. Your son could raise an issue by speaking to his employer or even his trade union representative if he is part of one. However, if your son does not want to get the vaccine he may not be able to visit the care homes for work purposes.