New public sector employees working on the front-lines of New Zealand’s COVID-19 response could have a vaccination requirement inserted into their contracts, according to new Government advice.
An employment lawyer said ‘no jab, no job’ clauses could become more common for new hires in both the public and private sectors as employers seek to secure their workplaces for a world of open borders.
New Zealand’s rollout of vaccinations to border and managed isolation and quarantine (MIQ) workers began last month, with the Government now revealing its longer-term plan to vaccinate the wider public.
However, there are concerns about vaccine scepticism or hesitancy amongst some New Zealanders, with public polling released by the Ministry of Health suggesting nearly a quarter of Kiwis would refuse a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Public Service Commission has released vaccine guidelines for the public sector workforce, outlining the approach Government Agencies and Departments should take in rolling out the vaccine to their own staff.
The Commission’s guidance sets out “an expectation that all employees in the Public Service should be vaccinated”, although notes a final decision on vaccinations sits with each individual.
“In making that choice, there may be consequences for others — in order to minimise or eliminate those consequences, Agencies will need to work with individual employees on their options while respecting their choice,” the Commission said.
As part of the expectation that all staff should be vaccinated, it said Agencies should “consider introducing a requirement for new employees to be vaccinated into employment agreements by agreement with any relevant unions”.
Agencies should also ask existing staff to provide information on whether or not they had been vaccinated, while “appropriate leaders” within the public sector should be vaccinated early in the program to act as role models.
The Commission said staff who didn’t receive a vaccination for any reason should be subject to a health and safety assessment to determine whether their jobs could be done safely.
If not, they could be deployed to a different role within the same Agency or a different organisation, or placed on paid special leave “for a reasonable time” following legal advice.
Wellington, 13 March 2021
