Employers can't force staff to get vaccinated against Covid-19

Friday, 12 February 2021

Southland Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sheree Carey.

Employers will be able to insist new employees get vaccinated against Covid-19, but with some exceptions, the Southland Chamber of Commerce says.

But they won’t be able to force their existing employees to get the vaccine, again with some exceptions.

Employers should take a cautionary approach and seek legal advice when considering vaccination issues in the workplace, the chamber says.

The issue has shot into the spotlight, with Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announcing the first batch of the Pfizer vaccine will arrive next week.

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Vaccination of the country’s 12,000 border workers is expected to start next Saturday and be completed in two to three weeks, with household contacts of the border workers to be the next group vaccinated.

About 70 per cent of the population will need to be vaccinated in order to achieve herd immunity.

The chamber has suggested to its members that they have the discretion to give their employees incentives to get vaccinated, including by paying one-off bonuses.

But employers couldn’t force their existing staff to get vaccinated as, under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act, medical treatment required informed consent.

That said, under some circumstances it may be considered a “reasonable instruction” to require vaccination where there was evidence it would significantly reduce health risks of employees or improve business efficiency – and where no other options provided equally as effective protection against covid.

The chamber also said employers could insist new employees were vaccinated against Covid-19 except if it breached discrimination rules which would include their religious beliefs and for medical reasons.

Clare House Retirement Village general manager Lynley Irvine said vaccination would be voluntary among its staff and residents, and it would give them all the information they needed to make good decisions.

She would like them all to be vaccinated, but they had the choice, she said.

“We will certainly be encouraging our people, and making it as easy as possible for them.”

“It’s a new world for us all but we are excited in the aged care sector that the vaccine is coming and staff and residents will get it in the early stages.”

Copeland Ashcroft Law partner Naoimh McAllister said employers should have a plan about how they would vaccinate staff. And if they wanted everyone vaccinated they should decide how that would occur and how they would manage people who declined to be vaccinated, as was their right.

Southland chamber chief executive Sheree Carey said no Southland employers had approached her with concerns around the vaccinations of staff. But the organisation was getting ahead of the issue by giving them information now.

She believed they would abide by the rules around vaccinations of staff.

Carey would be getting vaccinated and if others in her office chose not to, it was up to them, she said.

“I won’t get sick but they might, it’s their choice.”