With cases of the Delta variant rising in the US, many employers are making it mandatory for their staff to get their shots. Some are even asking employees to leave if they refuse to get the jab.
In California, all employees of the state government will have to prove that they have received their jabs or else be willing to wear a mask at work and be prepared to get tested once a week. Public staff in San Francisco have been given a deadline to report their status or face a fine.
In June, over 150 employees of Houston Hospital were either fired or resigned on their own after they refused to get vaccinated.
Employers across the US are realising that a safe workplace is a must for the organisations as well as their workforces. Most are looking to enforce strict vaccine policies, even while the country is facing an acute shortage of labour.
Meanwhile such mandatory vaccination policies are not going down well with everyone. Employees of the Houston Methodist Hospital filed a lawsuit against the Hospital for its vaccination order. However, the case was dismissed. A similar order by Indiana University, for its students and staff, was challenged and eventually blocked.
Laws with regard to vaccination vary from state to state. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission had earlier stated that federal laws do not keep employers from making it mandatory for all employees to be vaccinated before entering the workplace, provided the policy does not interrupt with the laws pertaining to civil-rights and disabilities. Meanwhile, in Montana, a bill prevents employers from making it mandatory for workers to reveal their vaccination status.
Only about 53 per cent of the population in the US has been inoculated till date.
