Episodes
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
This legal alert was published on August 18th 2020 by Kevin Troutman in Houston.
As the flu season approaches and the COVID-19 pandemic continues, employers’ mandatory vaccination policies may soon become more important than ever. For several reasons, those policies will also attract unprecedented scrutiny. First, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has stated that getting the flu vaccine this fall will be all the more important, both to reduce health risks for individuals and to conserve the country’s potentially scarce healthcare resources, particularly for respiratory conditions like the flu and COVID-19. Second, one or more COVID-19 vaccines are expected to become available later this year or in early 2021, offering possible protection from this worldwide scourge. Third, mandatory vaccination policies sometimes spark deeply personal responses at a time when political differences and social justice issues remain at the forefront of the nation’s consciousness.
As employers seek to balance their duty to maintain a workplace free of recognized dangers and the rights of individual employees, questions abound: Can you enforce mandatory vaccination policies? (In most cases, the answer is “yes,” as discussed below.) If you mandate flu shots or COVID-19 vaccinations, what specific risks and responsibilities must you consider and address? And finally, is a mandatory vaccination policy the right option for your company? As usual, the answers to these critical questions lie in the details. This article will provide you an outline of issues to consider as you answer these questions, along with some recommended best practices guidance to lead you through these unprecedented times.
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
Tuesday Sep 08, 2020
This legal alert was published on August 17th, 2020 by Travis W. Vance in Charlotte.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued constantly changing guidance for employers that many view as complex, confusing, and impractical. In its perplexing web of guidelines, the CDC recommends that your company take several actions to protect workers from contracting COVID-19, like self-isolating sick employees, quarantining exposed employees, screening employees for symptoms prior to work, and installing partitions to protect public-facing employees.
Given their complexity, some of these directives are often not fully understood by companies. Further complicating matters, many of the recommendations have never been previously undertaken by employers, leading to misapplication. Worst of all, other guidelines are simply not feasible for some employers, leaving them with the tough decision of not following the CDC directive in order to stay in business.
Unfortunately, ignoring or misunderstanding these confusing guidelines, like the four commonly misinterpreted guidance listed below, could lead to legal risks for your company.