Your vaccination decisions: 5 key issues to consider.

• Author: Hyman, Jon

At some point over the next several months, most of your employees will receive one of the COVID-19 vaccines. As their employer, you have numerous issues to consider.

You should absolutely formalize these decisions in a written Vaccination Policy that you provide to each employee, so that everyone is on the same page as to your requirements and expectations. The following are the five key considerations that should be front of mind:.

1. Will you require the vaccine, or simply recommend that your employees get vaccinated? Legally, you can require the vaccine and proof of vaccination as a condition of employment. However, you must also allow for reasonable accommodation for employees who cannot get vaccinated because of an underlying legally protected disability, and for employees who refuse to get vaccinated because of a sincerely held religious belief.

   Because of these exceptions and the likelihood of other employees becoming offended by a perceived invasion of medical privacy, a recom mendation is preferred over a mandate in most cases.

2. Will you pay nonexempt employees for time spent getting the vaccination? If you mandate the vaccine, time employees

   Formalize these decisions in a written policy so that everyone is on the same page as to your requirements and expectations. spend getting vaccinated is almost certainly compensable working time. If, however, vaccinations are optional, time spent related to the vaccine is almost certainly not com-pensable working time. Either way, you can choose to pay workers for the time.

3. Will you pay employees for time off related to vaccine side effects? Some...