All your questions answered about vaccines and work from unfair dismissal to ...

All your questions answered about vaccines and work from unfair dismissal to ...
All your questions answered about vaccines and work from unfair dismissal to ...

Australian workers who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid can be legally sacked while bosses face being sued for negligence if staff get sick, leading lawyers say.

Only workers in a handful of frontline industries are required by law to be vaccinated as a condition of entering the workplace.

But some employers are going beyond government mandates and requiring their staff to have had two immunisation doses to be allowed back into the office.

Fruit cannery SPC Ardmona in August became Australia's first employer to require their staff, at Shepparton in northern Victoria, to be fully vaccinated.

Mining giant BHP last week announced that from January 31, unvaccinated staff, contractors and visitors would be banned from entering its Australian work sites.

Hairdressers and other beauty services are just some of the businesses who need to ensure staff are vaccinated to open under NSW rules, and those soon to be introduced in Victoria (pictured, a Sydney hairdresser preparing for lockdown to end)

Hairdressers and other beauty services are just some of the businesses who need to ensure staff are vaccinated to open under NSW rules, and those soon to be introduced in Victoria (pictured, a Sydney hairdresser preparing for lockdown to end)

All staff and customers of newly-opened hospitality venues in New South Wales need to show they are fully-vaccinated (pictured, customers using QR code log-ins in Sydney's The Rocks on Tuesday)

All staff and customers of newly-opened hospitality venues in New South Wales need to show they are fully-vaccinated (pictured, customers using QR code log-ins in Sydney's The Rocks on Tuesday)

Professional services firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers announced that from early November, staff in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Newcastle would need to be fully vaccinated to return to the office or attend the workplace Christmas party.

Media giant News Corp, the owner of Sky News, has since September 19 required staff at its Chullora printing plant in western Sydney to be fully vaccinated.

Journalists wishing to return to the office by January 31 will have to be fully vaccinated while frontline editorial staff in New South Wales and Victoria will need to provide proof of being double jabbed from November 19.  

Employment lawyer Joydeep Hor, the founder and managing principal of People + Culture Strategies, said a boss could legally sack an office worker for refusing to get vaccinated, even if it wasn't required by law for their specific industry.

Australians who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid can be legally sacked while bosses face being sued for negligence if staff get sick, leading lawyers say (pictured is a woman receiving a Pfizer vaccine from south-west Sydney doctor Dr Jamal Rifi)

Australians who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid can be legally sacked while bosses face being sued for negligence if staff get sick, leading lawyers say (pictured is a woman receiving a Pfizer vaccine from south-west Sydney doctor Dr Jamal Rifi)

Constructions workers (pictured) also have to be vaccinated to work in Victoria - a move which prompted furious protest

Constructions workers (pictured) also have to be vaccinated to work in Victoria - a move which prompted furious protest

'At some point, the employers will have a right if they choose to exercise it to say, 'Whichever way you look at it, it's probably going to be a condition of your employment that you are vaccinated',' he told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Hor, who has 25 years' experience advising employers, said bosses who mandated vaccinations as a condition of work would be likely to have a win in the Fair Work Commission if a staff member brought an unfair dismissal case.

 'There is a real argument that this could well turn into, essentially, a lawyers' picnic.' - Bill Potts, criminal lawyer

'The decisions that have looked at that issue, have fallen in favour of the employer,' he said.

'That will continue to be the case, I just think that the overall work health and safety obligations will be seen as paramount by the courts and most employers will be successful in defending any challenge by an employee.'

Trade unions are also backing moves for staff to be fully vaccinated to come to work. 

Criminal lawyer Bill Potts, the Brisbane-based founding director of litigation firm Potts Lawyers, said workplaces face being sued for negligence or worker's compensation, under state law, if a staff member caught Covid in the office.

But some employers are going beyond government mandates and requiring their staff to have had two immunisation doses to be allowed back into the office. Mining giant BHP last week announced that from January 31, unvaccinated staff, contractors and visitors would be banned from entering its Australian work sites (pictured is a BHP coal mine at Moranbah in central Queensland)

But some employers are going beyond government mandates and requiring their staff to have had two immunisation doses to be allowed back into the office. Mining giant BHP last week announced that from January 31, unvaccinated staff, contractors and visitors would be banned from entering its Australian work sites (pictured is a BHP coal mine at Moranbah in central Queensland)

COVID WORK Q&A

Can someone be sacked for refusing to be fully vaccinated?

Yes. Lawyers Joydeep Hor and Bill Potts agreed an employer would be likely to win an unfair dismissal claim in the Fair Work Commission, as courts sided with bosses who put health and safety first

Can an employer be sued if someone gets sick from Covid at work?

Yes. A staff member would have to prove their boss was negligent about the known threat of Covid

'If you can show that there is nexus between the danger to you, then there can be a litigation result,' Mr Pott said

'Negligence is the foreseeability of a potential harm'

How can employers defend themselves in court?

By demonstrating they they taken reasonable steps to mitigate the risk of Covid from social distancing to face masks and vaccination checks

Can compulsory vaccinations be challenged in court?

Yes. An opponent of such a measure would have to prove rapid antigen tests, social distancing, face masks and screens were enough to mitigate the risk of catching Covid. The Queensland Police Service is facing a legal challenge

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'The employer may well find themselves liable for WorkCover,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

'For example, if I allow a client into my business who's either unvaccinated and I'm exposed to them for quite a substantial period of time, my employees can say, 'You didn't make proper enquiries, you didn't get proof of vaccination, you've exposed me to danger, I've now got Covid and I'm suing you for exposing me to that risk'.

'There is a real argument that this could

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