Staff registers can track vaccinations
Employers are allowed to keep a register of staff who have, or have not been vaccinated against Covid-19, employment lawyer Ros Webby says.
Border and health workers received their first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccination this month, and from July the vaccine will be rolled out to the remaining 2 million people aged above 16 years.
Webby, who is a partner at Dundas Street Employment Lawyers, said vaccinations could not be made mandatory for existing staff, unless there was a law change and that was highly unlikely.
But employers could keep a register of who has and has not been vaccinated if this was necessary to the job and there were clear health and safety concerns, Webby said.
The Government has also signalled a vaccine passport will be essential for travel into and out of the country.
If workers had consented to telling their employers they had been vaccinated the Ministry of Health would inform employers, according to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
But if workers were asked but refused to disclose their vaccination status, employers could assume the workers were unvaccinated, MBIE said. The employer still had to inform workers of its assumption.
Any collection of personal information would be governed by the Privacy Act.
The Government has also encouraged employers to offer paid work time for workers to get vaccinated.
Webby said employers could also ask prospective workers if they had been vaccinated during the hiring process. But she said this could expose the company to discrimination claims under the Human Rights Act if the candidate said no and was not hired.
‘‘If the reason relates to religious or ethical belief, or to disability, for instance, and the person was the best candidate, refusing to employ on that basis could leave an employer facing uncomfortable and businessdamaging claims of discrimination,’’ Webby said.