Is It Legal for Employer to Ask If You Are Vaccinated

Jason Habinsky, an attorney at Haynes and Boone in New York, suggested that employers only require the bare minimum of supporting documents, such as a vaccination record or a survey response. Employers may have legitimate business reasons to ask employees for their vaccination status, but employers should be careful not to investigate further, said Hannah Sweiss, an attorney at Fisher Phillips in Woodland Hills, California. No. Whenever an employee requests reasonable accommodation, the employer has the right to understand the disability-related limitation that requires accommodation. If there is no disability-related limitation that requires telework, the employer is not required to provide telework as an accommodation. Or, if there is a disability-related disability, but the employer can effectively respond to the need with another form of reasonable accommodation in the workplace, the employer may choose this alternative to telework. No. Questions about where a person has travelled would not be disability-related requests. If the CDC or local or state health officials recommend that people visiting certain places stay home for a period of time, an employer may ask if employees are returning from those places, even if the trip was personal. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, employers can currently ask questions about their symptoms to employees who regularly or occasionally work on-site and feel sick or call for questions about their symptoms as part of workplace COVID-19 testing. No. The Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act (GINA) prohibits employers from asking employees medical questions about family members. However, GINA does not prohibit an employer from asking its employees if they have been in contact with someone who has been diagnosed with COVID-19 or who may have symptoms related to the disease.

In addition, from a public health perspective, asking an employee only about their contact with family members would unnecessarily limit the information received about an employee`s potential exposure to COVID-19. Yes. Employers implementing mandatory vaccination policies must be prepared to respond to claims that their vaccination requirement affects employees differently because they belong to a protected category such as race, colour, religion, sex, age or national origin. If an employer is aware that some of its workforce may have limited access to the vaccine, such as lack of transportation, employers should consider implementing strategies such as reimbursing worker travel costs to and from vaccination sites, providing information on where to get vaccinated, and providing paid time off. to get vaccinated. to remove these barriers. As with any accommodation request, employers can: ask questions to determine if it is a disability; Discuss with the employee how the requested accommodations would help them and allow them to continue working; explore other accommodation measures that can effectively meet their needs; and request medical records if necessary. First, pregnancy-related conditions may themselves be disabilities under the ADA, even if the pregnancy itself is not an ADA disability. If an employee makes a request for reasonable accommodation due to a pregnancy-related illness, the employer must review it in accordance with standard ADA rules. During a pandemic, ADA-insured employers can ask these employees if they have symptoms of the pandemic virus. In COVID-19, these are symptoms such as fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath or sore throat.

Employers must keep all employee illness information as confidential medical records in accordance with the ADA. Yes. An employer is not required to make a special reasonable accommodation if it is « undue hardship, » that is, « significant hardship or cost. » As described in the next two questions, in some cases, an adjustment that would not have amounted to undue hardship prior to the pandemic may now constitute an undue hardship. In addition, the data could be protected under state law. Sweiss said employers subject to the California Consumer Privacy Act should be aware that collecting such information is likely to trigger the notification requirements of the law. « Therefore, employers need to make sure they have issued this notice when collecting vaccine-related information, » she noted. B.7. An employer is aware that an employee is teleworking because he or she has COVID-19 or symptoms related to the disease and she is in quarantine.

Can the employer tell employees that this particular employee is telecommuting without saying why? (08.09.20; adapted from question 7 of the webinar of 27/03/20) Yes. An employer may remind all employees that it is contrary to federal EBO laws to harass or discriminate against employees on the basis of race, national origin, color, sex, religion, age (40 years or older), disability, or genetic information. It may be particularly helpful for employers to inform supervisors and managers of their role in monitoring, firing and reporting harassment or other forms of discrimination. An employer can also make it clear that it will promptly investigate allegations of harassment or discrimination and take appropriate action. An employee – or a third party, for example an employee`s doctor – must inform the employer that they need a change for a reason related to an illness (in this case the underlying medical condition). Individuals may make a request for accommodation by conversation or in writing. While the employee (or third party) is not required to use the term « reasonable accommodation » or refer to the ADA, they can. No. Federal anti-discrimination laws prohibit an employer from refusing to hire a candidate on the assumption that the candidate will seek reasonable accommodation or an exemption from an employer`s mandatory vaccination policy. However, the national requirement to treat vaccination status as confidential information does not prevent employers or businesses from asking their employees or visitors if they have been vaccinated against COVID-19.

Note that some states, such as Montana, have passed laws that prevent employers from asking employees and/or visitors for their vaccination status. The EEOC has also published useful information on this topic. Yes. The ADA and the Rehabilitation Act allow employers to provide all workers with advance information about who to contact — if they wish — to request housing for a disability they will need when they return to work, even if no date has been announced for their return. If applications are received in advance, the employer can begin the interactive process. An employer may choose to include in this notice any medical condition listed by the CDC that may put individuals at higher risk of severe illness if they contract COVID-19, provide instructions on who to contact, and state that the employer is prepared to consider all employee requests on a case-by-case basis. who have these or other diseases. According to the ADA, reasonable accommodations are adjustments or modifications provided by an employer to provide equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities.

If reasonable accommodation is required of a person with a disability in order to apply for a job, perform a job or receive the benefits and privileges of employment, the employer must provide it, unless doing so would cause undue hardship or significant cost. An employer has the discretion to choose between effective arrangements. If a requested accommodation would result in undue hardship, the employer must provide alternative accommodation if such accommodation is available short of undue hardship.