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This is basic law: Stuff is allowed unless forbidden. Because of that, employers generally have the right to require things of employees, and the exceptions are
by Arnt 6y ago
This is basic law: Stuff is allowed unless forbidden. Because of that, employers generally have the right to require things of employees, and the exceptions are what's specified in law.
So if your employer wants to require of the people in your team that they know C++, speak Swahili or carry photo ID, that's allowed because not forbidden. But the law does have provisions for religious discrimination (in most countries, perhaps all) so requiring your team to be Pastafarians is out (if that's what the law says, the law might make an exception for the Pastafarian Church).
Requiring vaccines might also be forbidden by your employment contract. But is it? I doubt it.
Your contract also could say "the employer cannot permit you to take paid sick leave if you're ill on the day after a vaccine" or "the employer cannot permit you to get a vaccine on company time" but both sound far-fetched to me.
- mc32 6y agoCan they make people take contraceptives, I wonder? What about “pep-pills”? Can they require that? Can they coerce anti-psychotic drugs to those who need this medication to stay balanced?
- knz42 6y agoThey can't require things that have a direct impact on the employee's private life, so contraceptives and anti-psychotic drugs are out. They can't require things that have unknown medical impact, so random pills out. (However, some food items can be mandatory. For example if you're a sporter, you can be required by your employer to take certain supplements.)
- mc32 6y agoWhat about requiring exercise or fluorinated water? Those neither invade privacy and improve things for people and the company.
- sokoloff 6y agoThe military and sports teams certainly mandate exercise (explicitly in the military's case and at least implicitly but very likely explicitly for sports teams). Military pilots are also issued "go pills" (dextroamphetamine) for long combat and long single-pilot transit sorties.
- mc32 6y agoThe military is quite different. You more or less, in colloquial terms, belong to the government who promises to be a good guardian. There isn’t much you can say ‘No’ to without risking a discharge or courts martial.
- tomjen3 6y agoThere was a case her in Denmark (which, normally, have much stronger employment laws than the US) where it turned out that a company could require its workers to exercise (and they were computer programmers, so it wasn't directly related to their job) provided that it happened in working hours.
- triceratops 6y ago> requiring exercise I'm sure you could, if you paid the employee for it. > fluorinated water How would anyone verify that? Seems like the kind of thing you'd have to go to court to find out if it's legal.
- Arnt 6y agoI think some countries require that the terms of employment be somewhat related to the nature of the work. Contraceptives might be banned by that. (IANAL, just someone who's had this explained by a lawyer.) In a fully remote company, where you never meet customers, vendors or other employees, requiring vaccination might be viewed by a court as unrelated to the work. If you're supposed to meet customers or other employees and there's a pandemic going on, though...
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]