“The life of the law has not been logic; it has been experience.”
Employers may be able to mandate that employees get a COVID-19 vaccination before returning to the workplace. The EEOC has updated its COVID-19 webpage to include a section regarding guidance on whether an employer-mandated vaccination policy would violate various federal laws. While the EEOC guidance does not directly state that mandatory vaccination policies are lawful, it addresses various other employee protection laws predicated on the notion that such a mandate is lawful. According to the EEOC, employers are required to provide a safe workplace in which “….an individual shall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of individuals in the workplace.”
As more states loosen the COVID-19 Shelter in Place laws and people begin to return to previously sheltered business, it is essential that businesses have a plan for how that return to work will look and, equally important, convey relevant portions of the plan to its employees.
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