WhiskyWhisky

The short answer is: Be careful what you wish for!Whether you’ve chosen to mandate COVID-19 vaccinations or not, you still may be interested in asking your employees to show proof of their vaccination status. This simple question comes with its own set of risks. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has given additional guidance in this area in Section K.3 of “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws.”

The good news is that generally asking your employees for proof of their vaccination status is not considered a medical exam for reasons that include the fact that there are many reasons that are not disability-related that may explain why an employee may or may not have gotten a vaccination. For example, they may not have one yet because they have been unable to secure an appointment, or they simply do not believe in the vaccination because they think COVID is a hoax. This is different from someone not getting vaccinated due to a disability or religious belief. Moreover, this general practice is not a HIPAA violation and HIPAA does not apply in this context. The rub and risk come if you ask follow-up questions that may elicit whether the employee may have a disability. Simply following-up with “why do you not have the vaccination yet?” could be treading into that risky territory that touches on whether an employee’s disability is the reason why the employee has not been vaccinated.

If you find yourself in that territory, you will have to evaluate the employee’s response within the framework of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (or Title VII, if the employee’s response implicates religious beliefs) requirement to justify proof of vaccination being “job-related and consistent with business necessity.” This is the same analysis an employer must undertake when mandating vaccinations, and it can be a tedious and high standard to meet. View the Labor and Employment Blog for more information on the ADA and employers’ efforts to require mandatory vaccinations and health screenings for employees.

The same is true of follow-up questions that may elicit genetic information (e.g., I cannot get the vaccination due to my family’s history of being immuno-compromised). (See Sections K.8 and K.9 of the EEOC guidance described above). Once again, simply asking for vaccination proof does not run afoul of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) so long as you stop there in your inquiries.

• Again, be careful what you wish for. It’s one thing to ask the employee whether they were vaccinated and to show proof, and it’s another to ask why they were not vaccinated. Once you start eliciting disability, religious or genetic information with follow-up questions, you are placing your company at risk of knowing more information than you may have bargained for.

Fox51

Troll.
it's voluntary. Just like you advertising your inability to be anything other than a troll.

WhiskyWhisky

The fact that ZW is asking its employees this question makes me a troll?

prt135

What exactly is the question they’re asking? Are you vaccinated?

Fox51

The email was specific and addressed your overall concerns. If you feel that you are being discriminated for your "disability" then talk with your union rep.



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Imapylot

They didn’t ask a question at all. They said if you are vaccinated and you’d like to voluntarily tell them that you are vaccinated then go for it. If you don’t feel like telling them whether or not you are vaccinated then don’t.

WhiskyWhisky

Where does it say Voluntarily?? I challenge you to show me. Because you cant. Funny how the brain will fill in words that don't exist to help a little agenda along.

DarkSideMoon

“you are invited”.

I don’t get “invited” to do my IBTs, recurrent, etc. The phrasing is intentional.

It’s too bad your brain fills in everything to be as conspiratorial as possible. It must be an exhausting life being a perpetual victim.

tonsterboy5

then when his Canada flying gets pulled because they only want to accept Americans that are vaccinated he will play victim some more.

WhiskyWhisky

Resorts to personal attacks when he cant provide facts to back up my question. Which party does this sound like? Also you assume I don't get vaccinated because of conspiracy theories, not because of religious beliefs. Very "coexisting" attitude. Maybe you should be "invited" to some HR IBT.