The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has released new guidance stating that employers are now allowed to require workers to get a COVID-19 vaccine prior to returning to work.
Employers must provide “reasonable accommodations” for workers unwilling or unable to get the shot due to pregnancy, disability, or religious reasons. This could mean requiring unvaccinated workers to wear masks or work remotely.
Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children
The EEOC has also stated employers could offer workers incentives for getting the vaccine, as long as the incentive is “not so substantial as to be coercive”. Bolthouse Farms has begun giving vaccinated employees $500 as a bonus. Dollar General is offering an extra four hours of pay for employees who can prove they’ve been vaccinated.
In the months since the vaccines have become widely available, some workers have been blindsided by their bosses’ demands to get inoculated. “It was shocking to me,” Bonnie Jacobson told The Post after losing her waitress job in Brooklyn in February. “I went through the stages: I’m hurt, I’m in shock — then I got mad.”
Feds say employers can require workers to get COVID vaccine
None of the COVID-19 shots are FDA approved, they have only been authorized for emergency use. A little more than half (51%) of Americans have been vaccinated against the coronavirus according to the CDC. A recent survey of employers by Arizona State University said 88% of employers would encourage their workers to get vaccinated and six in 10 planned to demand proof.
Related: Natural Coronavirus Prevention