In a story broadcast by WPLG Local 10 News, Brett J. Schneider commented on the legal considerations affecting mandatory vaccination policies. Brett told Local 10 News employers do have the ability to mandate that employees get vaccinated.
“If you have everyone back in the office and somebody gets COVID and it spreads through the office, that is going to have a major impact not just on employee health but the overall health of the business if you can’t have people working,” Brett said.
Two exemptions to the policy would include employees who cannot get vaccinated because of medical reasons or a sincerely held religious belief. Brett explained to Local 10 News that if employees don’t want to be vaccinated and don’t meet the exemptions, employees can ask their boss for a socially distanced or remote-work arrangement, but there are no guarantees.
“[A]s a matter of law, if you have an employer who has a strict compliance policy and you refuse to comply, an employer can terminate your employment,” Brett said. “Especially since there is an ample supply and fairly easy access” to the vaccine.
Brett strongly suspects litigation will ensue over this issue, but predicting whether employers or employees will prevail is difficult to discern at this stage.
