An elected Virginia County Commissioner of the Revenue (a democrat) is formally threatening to discipline employees (up to and including termination) that don’t get vaccinated by 6/30/21.
I see two problems with this.
- There are certain professions where extreme care needs to be taken to protect people’s health. Considering what we know about COVID, the immunocompromised, people with lung health issues, people in failing health overall, and the elderly, are particularly susceptible to the illness and to death if they catch it. Any employer in which the JOB FUNCTIONS of employees are particularly focused towards people in that category should be able to require their employees to be vaccinated. I’m talking about cancer wards, nursing homes, dialysis centers, etc. We also know about COVID that it is not easily passed outdoors or with minimal contact indoors. There are jobs that require employees to be in close contact with others indoors for long stretches of time - a situation in which an infected person is much more likely to transmit COVID to someone else. Dental hygienist would be an example. Employers should be allowed to require their employees to be vaccinated when these criteria are met.
A Commissioner of Revenue (COR) office, which functions in a similar way to a DMV with windows where people come in to get a business license or update their property tax, allows for plexiglass and social distancing. The job functions of a COR employee do NOT fall into the above category.
- This vaccine still only has emergency approval.
Put these two factors together, and I think the COR is overstepping her authority. So far, the EEOC has said what she is doing is legal, but there is no court precedent on it yet. I could see a court factoring in what I posited above when coming to a determination about this. We might be seeing it soon. Or maybe not. Most people would just get the shot. If I were a COR employee and I had a family to feed, I’d just take the shot. I would write a letter documenting that I am getting it only because I am forced to get it to keep my job though. That way if anything negative happened to my health that could be traced to the vaccine, there would be a paper trail that would be helpful for a lawsuit in the future.
