Supamotion / Shutterstock.com As Colorado expands its COVID-19 vaccine rollout, a wider variety of employers may be wondering whether they can require their employees to be inoculated against the disease. In some cases, legal experts say the answer may be yes, but there are plenty of caveats. âCOVID-19 has been deemed a direct threat, and as a direct threat the employer would need to make some analysis as to whether or not the employee is a direct threat to either other employees or the public given the work situation to then justify the mandate for having a vaccination,â says Chris Wilhelmi, an attorney with Stinar Zendejas Burrell & Wilhelmi in Colorado Springs.