Forcing swine flu vaccinations on staff could be a legal minefield for employers
By David Woods Thursday, 20 August 2009
Employers planning mass swine flu vaccinations for staff have been warned this could lead staff to make legal claims against them.
Further Reading
- Flu costs the British economy £1.35 billion
- Employers warned to educate staff on the importance of hand-washing in minimising infection
- New absence management service introduced at East Sussex local authority
- The CIPD has accused employers of relaxing their guard over swine flu
- Swine flu: Local councils are failing in their duty to help small firms prepare for an epidemic
- Swine flu: Employers prepared to close their premises to stop spread of virus
- Swine flu: A quarter of employers not fully prepared for changes to sickness self-certification
- Swine flu: how to handle absences and protect the remaining workforce
- Doctors can be an exception to the Working Time rules
- Swine flu won't affect doctors' implementation of Working Time rules, says NHS Employers
- Working Time regulations implementation should be postponed because of swine flu implications
- Government must help SMEs cope with swine flu, says Federation of Small Businesses
- British Chambers of Commerce to host swine flu interactive web seminar
- Swine flu mass staff absence could relieve companies of their contractual obligations
- Swine flu call-centre to open in London offering 800 temporary jobs - including HR roles
- Swine flu absence set to cost business £8.6 billion
- Swine flu: Employers could face fines for not protecting staff from the virus
- CIPD backs plans to allow staff with swine flu to self-certificate for up to 14 days
- Health and wellbeing: Healthcare provision - Healthy competition
- One in 10 employers still not prepared for swine flu
- Don't panic over swine flu, TUC boss warns
- How should HR departments handle fears of a swine flu pandemic?
- Employee who may have been in contact with swine flu is asked to work from home
- EXCLUSIVE: Huge numbers of companies keen to get hold of swine-flu, anti-viral medication for staff
- Increase in numbers calling in sick with coughs, colds and flu following swine flu pandemic reports
With mounting fears of a second wave of swine flu occurring this autumn, some employers have started making plans to vaccinate their workforce.
But, according to law firm Pinsent Masons, employers that try to force all staff to take any form of swine flu medication, by telling them they cannot return to work unless they accept it, could face claims from staff with pre-existing medical conditions who feel they cannot take it.
Richard Turner, an employment specialist at Pinsent Masons, believes employers taking a hard line on swine flu may not reap the benefits from it they are hoping for.
He added: "Employers may take the view that if they inoculate staff they will cut down on absences, or at least they will know that anybody who does take time off - having been vaccinated - must be malingering. This does not automatically follow.
"Employers are exposing themselves to claims if they take disciplinary action against an absent employee without hard evidence the illness is not genuine.
"If we do face a severe outbreak - particularly if the Department of Health goes ahead with proposals to increase the self-certification period to two weeks - employees may be simply unable to get confirmation from their GP that their illness is genuine."
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