HR expert discusses how vaccine mandates have slowed down the supply chain and job stability
Truckers protesting mandated vaccines at the Canadian border have vastly slowed down the supply chain, which was sputtering back to a slow start after a difficult year. However, supply chain slowdowns are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the issues that are arising from vaccine mandates.
“The Freedom Convoy 2022 speaks to a larger social movement that is happening in Canada, the United States, and across the globe,” says employment expert Rob Wilson, President of employment solutions firm Employco USA. “While we all want to reduce COVID rates and recover from this pandemic, businesses are faced with a tough decision when it comes to mandating vaccines and potentially losing employees in an already competitive job market.”
However, Wilson says some employers see the opposite side of the argument too: If their staff isn’t largely vaccinated, they could be facing virus spread throughout the workplace.
“In the past, having a few odd workers out for flu season wasn’t a massive concern for companies,” says Wilson. “So, for example, there wasn’t a real need for employers to insist upon workers getting the flu vaccine. But, now, if a company has a positive COVID-19 case, not only is that a serious health concern, but you could be looking at shutting down your location for 2 weeks or more for sanitizing. It’s a serious liability, not just financially but also when it comes to alerting your staff and customers and making sure you’re doing your due diligence to protect everyone under your company umbrella.”
That raises the question: Is there any way that employees can refuse a vaccination?
“The American Disability Act does allow for employees to abstain from vaccinations due to their medical history,” says Wilson. “Although we don’t yet know if the vaccines have any side effects or could be of concern to any particular population, I think we’re going to see some employees relying upon the ADA to back up their arguments for why they don’t want a COVID-19 vaccine. Employers need to be prepared for that and consider how to navigate that issue without infringing on a worker’s privacy because employees do still have HIPPA rights.”
Wilson says religious exemptions will apply.
“Depending on the state you reside in, it is possible your workers will be able to deny vaccines due to their strongly-held religious beliefs and/or due to philosophical or moral beliefs. This is worded differently based on where you live, but basically, it offers a little bit of wiggle room,” explains the human resources expert. “Again, employers will have to tread very lightly here. If your employee demonstrates a sincere faith-based or moral-based objection to vaccinations, you might not be within your rights to require vaccinations from that particular employee.”
“Spring will be here before you know it,” concludes Wilson. “And with it, we are expecting a return to normal, but a new normal…one that’s going to require serious adjustments from every workplace.”
For more on this topic, please contact Rob Wilson at rwilson@thewilsoncompanies.com.