Challenging Vaccination Policies at Work
Campaign Start:
31/08/2021
Campaign End:
Background
The UK Government has played a duplicitous game over recent months regarding COVID-19 vaccines and proof of vaccination status.
Early in 2021, in response to a petition calling for the government to commit to not implementing COVID-19 vaccine passports that received over 375,000 signatures, the Vaccines Minister repeatedly stated that mandating vaccines and implementing a passport system would be discriminatory and a dangerous first step onto a very slippery slope.
Yet here we are at the end of August with a vaccine mandate in place for care home workers and the government allowing, and indeed enabling, private businesses to set their own policies regarding vaccination and vaccine status for both employees and customers.
While many employers are jumping on the bandwagon and are either making COVID-19 vaccination a condition of continued employment or are implementing various discrimination measures such as segregating non-vaccinated staff from the rest of the workforce, most have failed to appreciate that there is already well established law in effect that protects the rights of employees (and human beings in general) and prevents employers enacting such policies.
Action Needed
If you are faced with loss of employment, change of duties or are being treated differently as a result of your choice not to have a COVID-19 vaccine, then the law is on your side.
We have collaborated with a solicitor to put together a letter that you can send to your immediate line manager (and your HR department and employer) that states your position, your rights and the law.
It is important that all employees take a stand. Employers will only get away with this if employees cave in and either accept changes to their employment or leave of their own volition to find alternative work.
As well as the letter, we have compiled a set of explanatory notes to give to your employer, so that they (and you) fully understand the various pieces of domestic and international legislation that their actions and attitudes are breaching.
Please use the buttons below to download
- the letter in Word format (which you will need to personalise by adding your name and address, the date and the name and address of your line manager/employer
- the explanatory notes in PDF format (which need to accompany the letter for completeness),
You should keep a copy of both documents for your own records.
Hand the letter to your line manager and ask for it to be placed on your personnel records.