Any employer outside of the regulated care home sector in
England that is considering imposing a mandatory vaccination
requirement, or treating employees or job applicants differently
because of their vaccination status, should consider the
following:
Unfair dismissal
Employees with over two years' service have unfair
dismissal protection.
Tribunals are likely to consider that it will be unfair to
dismiss an employee for not being vaccinated, unless it is
essential and necessary for the employee to carry out their role. A
lot will depend on the type of workplace and the level of risk, and
in particular whether there is contact with clinically vulnerable
people.
One scenario which might make a dismissal of an employee who
refuses to be vaccinated fair is where there is pressure from third
parties, e.g. if a client or customer of the employer will only
allow people on site who are vaccinated. If this were to arise, in
the case of employees with more than two
