Issue link: http://palletcentral.uberflip.com/i/1370374
34 PalletCentral • May-June 2021 palletcentral.com from mandatory vaccines?) the worker will be eligible for unemployment insurance, on top of any relief they might obtain through the OSHA complaint process. From the HR professionals' perspective, the analysis focuses more on the civil rights laws – Title VII (religious protections) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) concerning disability protections. If workers' genetics put them at greater risk for vaccine complications, then in addition to the ADA, the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act could come into play. Both religious refusals as well as those that are disability (or pregnancy) based may trigger "reasonable accommodation" requirements, such as allowing the employee to work remotely until a safe vaccine is available for their needs or a sufficient number of others are vaccinated to achieve "herd immunity" (typically 70-90 percent of the population). Political objections to vaccines are not protected activity in private sector workplaces, where the First Amendment does not apply. HIPAA issues may also surface if the employer is administering the vaccine on site and doing health screening directly or via a third party who shares the screening criteria with the employer. Currently, the EEOC says that employers can mandate vaccines, but that guidance was issued during the Trump administration and is subject to revision. e EEOC also says that unvaccinated workers are not automatically a "direct threat to safety" to the extent that they could be excluded from the workplace solely on that basis. ere also are medical ethics issues concerning "incentivizing" vaccines by paying a bonus or giving a gift card, although some grocery chains and airlines are taking this approach. e efficacy of the vaccines, long-term, are also unclear give the mutations developing and spreading rapidly in the United States, and on February 8, 2021, the CDC issued guidelines on what fully vaccinated persons should and should not do. From the HR professionals' perspective, the analysis focuses more on the civil rights laws – Title VII (religious protections) and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) concerning disability protections.