Employers and mandatory vaccination

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A community-wide outbreak of mumps has hit metro Phoenix — the first the Valley has seen in decades.

This contagious disease can be avoided with the MMR vaccine, which covers measles, mumps and rubella, but some parents are skipping this vaccine for their 18-month-old infants for fear of triggering autism.

But it's not widely known that many employers can require workers to be vaccinated, said John Balitis, chairman of the labor and employment department at Jennings, Strouss & Salmon PLC law firm in Phoenix.

"In fact, an argument can be made that some employers — hospitals, for example — may be liable for the repercussions if they don't impose such a requirement," Balitis said.

But requiring vaccinations for workers comes with risks. It might be better for an employer to strongly encourage vaccinations rather than requiring them, he said.

"If the risk is slight, imposing such a requirement may not be worth the morale consequences or administrative burdens the requirement might cause," he said.

Some religious beliefs prohibit individuals from being vaccinated, while some forms of disability preclude other individuals form receiving a vaccination. In these cases, the employer must reasonably accommodate the impacted workers unless doing so would cause an undue hardship.

Another exception may arise in a union environment, he said.

"If a union bargains for the right to make vaccinations optional, and this right is incorporated into the parties' collective bargaining agreement, then it stands to reason that the employer in that scenario cannot require vaccinations," Balitis said. "Similarly, a unionized employer may not be able to impose a vaccination requirement without bargaining to impasse on it first."

... Why not just get the shots? There’s an epidemic going on.
People are getting diseases again because of the refusal to vaccinate.

Public health supersedes “personal sovereignty.”