A leading business representative group has said employers should be allowed to ask if employees are vaccinated before deciding if they can return to offices - saying businesses will be acting "irresponsibly" if they fail to do so.
While the policy is common in the US, the rules are different in Ireland, with the Government's Work Safely Protocol saying employees can make "their own decision" on whether to be vaccinated unless they are working in health and laboratory sector workplaces governed by the Safety, Health and Welfare at Work regulations of 2013 and 2020.
But, speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland programme, ISME's chief executive Neil McDonnell said he believes employers should be allowed to ask employees if they have been vaccinated. "We would be very disappointed if people were to use the word discrimination. It's now incumbent on the Department of Enterprise to specify work where an employer should know the vaccination status of employees, Mr McDonnell said.
"If you have employers making decisions on the basis of vaccination status, you are potentially talking about discrimination or segregation in workplaces," Ms Ansbro said. "But people will still have concerns, people still need to be cautious and follow the public health guidance. The workplace needs to be made secure and safe for everybody, for those who are vaccinated and the very, very small minority that aren't vaccinated.
Obviously these are companies that are not pro choice, so when they wave the anti racist flag, support pride etc, it's really just a front. Workers should be allowed work remotely if they don't want to take a vaccine or be given the option of a statuary redundancy payment.
They are allowed say what they want, even suggest we all commit suicide, but companies should be told very clearly its illegal to discriminate over medical status like that.
Who’s liable then? If I mandate vaccine to an employee and their one of these 1in a million whose liable ?
I worked in my office the whole way through this sh1t show , and if someone asks me my vaxx status now they have another thing coming
Fear mongering, RTE doing what it does best.
Some people have been working through out this without vaccination so I don't think they should be under scrutiny now
Disgraceful post , your medical status is your personal responsibility and information not fit for anyone but you and your doctor
Absolutely disgraceful that unvaccinated teachers will be allowed back into the classroom next month. Principals are not even allowed to ask if they are vaccinated or not. Talk about the tail wagging the dog.
neilpmcdonnell what is the point of this? These vaccines don’t interrupt transmission or infection so how is an unvaccinated person posing a threat to others? Besides there are treatments in the making.
Help!! TraceyOMahony81
The Data Protection Commissioner ruled that vaccination may be considered a “necessary safety measure” in certain circumstances, including frontline healthcare services. Staff will have to indicate their vaccination status if asked.