InTune Business Series
Part : 3
Topic: Can Employers make it compulsory for its incoming and existing employees to get vaccination and how can SMEs deal with this.
Date: 19 July 2021
Day: Monday
Time: 9:00 to 9:30pm
What can you expect?
🔎 Covid 19 vaccination, can Employer make it a compulsory requirement to existing and new incoming employee?
🔎 Employees' rights in relationship to info regarding Covid-19
🔎 What if employee unwilling to take vaccination? What can Employer do?
🔎 Records and employees' details regarding vaccination and those who have recovered from Covid-19. How is this relating to Personal Data Protection or any other written laws, if any.
🔎 Covid 19 and issues regarding keeping office and workers safe in the workplace's occupational safety & health
🟠 Host
• Alex Wong, FCPA (Aust), MIA
Entrepreneur
- Founder of InTune, Finance & HR Outsourcing for SMEs
🟠 Panel
• JJ Phang, LL.B(Hons), M.Phil (Mgmt.)
- Founder & Managing Partner, Phang & Partners
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COVID-19 is no longer alien to our workplace. Most of us may have experienced our working colleagues having or had been infected by COVID-19.
Many of us may have questions like can the employee be compelled by the employer to undergo vaccination? Or can it be a compulsory requirement to existing or new incoming employees?
For new incoming employees, an employer-employee relationship is governed by the employment contract. Imposing the requirement of being vaccinated can always be a term of the employment contract if it's agreed by both parties. However, compelling existing employees to undergo the vaccination process leads to a controversial argument between the employer's right of imposing conditions for the purpose of ensuring workplace safety under Occupational Safety and Health Act 1994, and on the employee's privacy and personal rights of their liberty in choosing any medical treatment.
Other related questions will be the medical information of the employees which can be classified as the personal data of the employees. Should the employee divulge their medical history if requested by the employer, specifically on COVID-19? The question will remain unanswered as our country does not have any specific legislation governing this particular information which ought to be disclosed in certain situations as the disclosure of the COVID-19 information of the employee may not fall within the purview of Section 40 of Personal Data Protection Act 2010.
In short, the employees infected by COVID-19 should not be leading to any workplace discrimination, and the non-vaccinated employees should not be a ground of dismissal by the employer if the employees are still able to perform their duties and obligation. Should there be any requirement of disclosure of medical information of the employees, consent should be obtained.
Any implementation of the new policy of the requirement of being vaccinated has to be communicated by the employer to the employee in order to reach a winning agreement.
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