Will airlines be allowed to mandate vaccines for employees?
Giuseppe Carabetta
A Qantas plane. Source: AAP/Dan Himbrechts.
Airlines want you vaccinated. They want as many people as possible vaccinated. The sooner that happens, the sooner borders open and they can get back to profitability.
They also have reasons to want to protect both customers and staff from COVID-19. Qantas staff, for example, have been considering legal action over workplace transmissions.
Qantas has dangled the carrot of extra frequent flyer points for fully vaccinated passengers, plus ten “mega prizes” of a year’s free travel for familes. Virgin Australia has similar plans. It also has a scheme to encourage its workers to get vaccinated. This will reportedly include the chance to win extra annual leave.
Airline policies mandating vaccines will be a turbulent test of workplace rights theconversation.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from theconversation.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
The Australian government recently began the nationwide rollout
of the COVID-19 vaccination. Participation has been the topic of
considerable discussion, with some industries and workplaces in
strong support of the scheme.
Employers are now grappling with the question of whether or not
they can implement mandatory vaccination policies in the workplace.
We consider some of the issues sparked by the debate.
Lawful and reasonable direction
Under the common law, an employer can issue a lawful and
reasonable direction to an employee. If this occurs the employee
To print this article, all you need is to be registered or login on Mondaq.com.
In brief - The coronavirus vaccine roll out across
Australia in the coming months raises important questions as to
whether employers can and should make vaccination mandatory for
their employees.
Guidance is expected from both the federal and state governments
in the coming weeks. In the meantime, this article considers the
current state of the law and the legal risks that arise when
implementing a vaccination policy at work.
Main takeaways
Given the high-risk nature of this area, it is clear that there
is no one size fits all answer.