A COVID-19 vaccine, administered in late January.
Photo: Chet Strange/AFP via Getty Images
Yesterday, several outlets, including the New York Times and Eater NY, reported that a Brooklyn waitress was fired from her job at Red Hook Tavern after she hesitated to get vaccinated. The restaurant had stipulated that its employees must get vaccinated, but Bonnie Jacobsen, the server, asked for more time to research how the vaccine would affect fertility. Speaking with the Times, she said, âI totally support the vaccine,â and that this one, specific concern was her only hang-up. Now, she is unemployed.
According to guidance from the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, Red Hook Tavernâs policy is completely legal, as employers can have a qualification standard requiring that an employee âshall not pose a direct threat to the health or safety of individuals in the workplace.â (There are, of course, exemptions, including disability and religious beliefs, which would need to be explored on a case-by-case basis.) Either way, according to the Times, Red Hook Tavernâs owner Billy Durney says theyâve revised policies to make it clearer how employees can pursue an exemption from vaccination.
In fact, businesses can require vaccination of not only employees but also, business writer Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote in December, âin many cases, customers.â (Sorkin also argues that a mandate could be a âworkplace benefitâ making others more comfortable.) Also in December, NPR published an interview with Johnny Taylor Jr. of the Society for Human Resource Management who says, based on the EEOCâs guidance, âweâll hear that more and more employers are seriously considering a mandate,â which he adds is typically âunheard of,â except in industries like health care.
However, many workers like Jacobsen have expressed some reluctance or unwillingness to get vaccinated, which is a problem if we want to actually end this pandemic. A number of restaurant workers Iâve spoken to have expressed hesitancy toward the vaccine, and business owners have also told me that they have employees who are hesitant or, as one person put it, ânot onboardâ with vaccination.
But even if vaccination requirements are allowed by law, they may create problems for owners. According to the Society for Human Resource Management, âIf a significant portion of the workforce refuses to comply, the employer will be put in the very difficult position of either adhering to the mandate and terminating all of these employees, or deviating from the mandate for certain employeesâ â which could lead to discrimination lawsuits. Employers may also feel an added emotional weight because of the dire state of the industry, and must take into account that if they fire an employee, theyâll be sending that person into a job market with a cripplingly high unemployment rate. (Those same employees have also likely been working fewer hours and making less money.)
Most of the abstaining employees have said that they simply want to be cautious â though one chef said she has no interest â and more recent polling shows that vaccine hesitancy is decreasing. Four owners who operate businesses in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx say they wonât force those employees to get vaccinated, and that theyâll instead continue talking to them. âIâm going to try to have a conversation, you know?â one says.
