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Summary
- The UK government is facing backlashes after they encouraged the idea of mandatory vaccination for office staff.
- Many experts have said mandatory vaccination would be “an intrusion on an employee’s body” and may discriminate them based on various factors.
- Till now, the UK government has only said that care home workers in England must be fully vaccinated.
The ministers in the Boris Johnson government are under immense pressure to outlaw “No jab, No job” policy, which is being implemented by the employers, amid warnings that firms could hit by a galore of legal actions due to claims of discrimination.
Major US businesses such as Facebook and Google have announced plans to allow employees who have taken both the jabs to enter their offices due to the spread of the Delta variant in the UK.
The UK government is facing backlashes after they encouraged the idea of mandatory vaccination for office staff, after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, described companies’ drive to prod staff to be double jabbed as a “good idea”.
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He had further said that in reality some firms would require employees to be fully vaccinated as it would be beneficial for their operations. Though the UK government has not passed any legislation yet to make it mandatory.
Shapps’s statement came after UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said that it would be “smart” for businesses to force staff to get both jabs and that he can understand why firms would want to adopt a tough stance regarding vaccination.
But many experts and institutions are against the idea of a tough stance on jabs. UK’s professional body Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said that compulsory vaccination would be “an intrusion on a worker’s body, mind and it may be a discrimination on the basis of disability, religious or philosophical belief”.
CIPD warned that businesses can’t make it compulsory for employees or potential employees to get fully vaccinated unless it is legally required. If people were forced to get vaccinated, that could lead to a criminal offence against the person and claims of assault and battery.
Till now, the UK government has only said that care home workers in England must be fully vaccinated. Though a consultation is under way on whether to extend this to NHS staff.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission, UK’s equalities watchdog, has also warned employers to avoid imposing a blanket “no jab, no job” policy. It advised that the companies should be “proportionate, non-discriminatory and make provision for those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reason”.
The Advisory, Conciliation, and Arbitration Service, UK’s dispute resolution group, said that if any staff does not want to get vaccinated because of any reason, then firms should consider employees’ concerns and be wary of avoiding discrimination.
Tory MP Will Wragg said that employers should encourage staff to get vaccinated rather than threatening them and ministers should stop backing this kind of coercion, which will prove deeply damaging the fabric of society.
UK-based plumbing firm Pimlico Plumbers was the first to say it will require employees to get both the jabs. Its founder, Chalrie Mullins, said that he believed in people’s safety and that no workers would let go if they had a medical exemption.
Prof Stephen Reicher, member of government’s behavioral advice group known as SPI-B, raised a serious concern that making vaccination compulsory for the staff those are responsible for the physical care of other is somewhere reasonable but doing the same for other employees, the negatives outweighed the benefits.
He added that it would disproportionately hit some groups as opposed to other, making jobs more ethnically and socially exclusive and may lead to anger and resistance those who are already hesitant towards the vaccine.
Many major unions have also come forward against the companies forcing their staffs to get fully vaccinated. Union General secretary Christina McAnea said that although vaccine has saved many lives, but only with widespread take-up can the virus be defeated and achieving this requires persuasion and encouragement not any compulsion and coercion. She said that forcing staff can lead to needless confrontation at work and legal cases that could drag on for years.
Why Vaccination Can’t Be Made Mandatory
The UK government has confirmed that all care homes staff must get fully vaccinated within 16 weeks or else face redeployment or they may lose their jobs, with a potential to extend mandatory vaccinations across NHS in addition.
Employers need to consider the legal implications and unfair dismissal claims they could face, that range from a human right violation to indirect discrimination under the Equality Act.
The employee may argue that a mandatory requirement to vaccination is discriminatory. Some staff may also have religious objections to have the vaccine, some may have certain medical conditions are advised against or choose not to take the vaccine and some may be vegan and may object if the vaccine includes animal products.
Currently, it could be argued that there is no evidence that the vaccine reduce transmission, merely that those vaccinated are unlikely to experience the most severe symptoms.
