Can businesses mandate COVID-19 inoculation for Australian workers?

NATIONAL

Some companies in the US are asking their workers to provide evidence of their vaccination status or are implementing policies that restrict the activities of unvaccinated workers.

In Australia, employers cannot force their employees to be COVID-19 vaccinated and yet they are responsible for staff and customers safety.

What happens if COVID-19 vaccinated staff refuse to work with unvaccinated staff members? So many questions and no definitive answers.

A Monash University expert has been looking into what this might mean for Australian workers and businesses.

Professor Greg Bamber - Director, International Consortium for Research in Employment and Work, Centre for Global Business, Monash Business School has done studies into what may happen next in Australia.

The following quotes can be attributed to Professor Bamber:

“Employees have more rights in Australia than in the US. US workers are less likely than employees in Australia to belong to a union that can defend their interests. In Australia, if employers dismiss workers who do not get vaccinated, they may be opening themselves up to an unfair dismissal claim. There is not generally such a legal right in the US.

“At this stage, US workers also have had more opportunities to get vaccinated than their counterparts in Australia, where the vaccination program has been much slower than in the US, UK and a range of other countries.

“Australian employers can encourage their employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19 in various ways but cannot force their employees to get vaccinated.”

Monash University Expert