With COVID-19 Vaccinations in Sight, In-House Counsel Ponder Employment Law Issues

Janie Schulman spoke to Corporate Counsel for an article covering Morrison & Foerster’s third COVID-19 Impact Survey, which found that in-house counsel are confident that once a vaccine is introduced to the market, they will be able to bring their workforces back to the office within a year.

According to Janie, whether companies can legally require employees to take a vaccine before coming back to the office is top-of-mind for many GCs.

“As of today, there is no federal law prohibiting employers from mandating vaccines,” Janie said, adding that “the EEOC [Equal Opportunity Employment Commission] has also said there is no vaccine yet and [they] can’t really say what will happen. I don’t know if their position will change once a vaccine is out and being distributed.”

Janie also noted that any employer that wants to mandate the vaccine should study state and local rules to make sure they can do so, and said it is likely that there are going to be employees who complain and may try to raise legal issues over it.

“Whether they have legal standing to pursue a valid claim is an entirely different question,” she said.

Read the full article.