Your boss CAN fire you if you don’t get vaccine, legal expert warns as Shake Shack founder Meyers says diners need jab
A LEGAL expert has warned bosses are within their right to fire staff if the don’t receive the vaccine – as restaurant mogul Danny Meyer announced both staff and diners at his restaurants need to be jabbed.
Shake Shack founder Meyer confirmed on Thursday Covid-19 immunizations are required for both staff and customers.
Restauranteur Danny Meyer he decided that workers and customers must be vaccinated as he feels a responsibility “to take care of our team and our guests”[/caption] Many US corporations and some federal government agencies are demanding employees get fully vaccinated or they could face termination[/caption]“This is the most logical thing I’ve ever seen,” the restaurant impresario said during an interview on CNBC.
“I’m not a scientist, but I know how to read data and what I see is that this is a crisis of people who have not been vaccinated, and I feel strong responsibility, on our part as business leaders, to take care of our team and our guests, and that’s what we’re doing.”
And one of the largest healthcare systems in Texas, Baylor Scott & White, gave all staff a hard deadline of Oct. 1 to get fully inoculated or face termination – with a top labor lawyer saying the company can terminate non-compliant staff.
“With rapidly rising COVID-19 case counts due to the highly contagious Delta variant and the start of the flu season fast approaching, we believe now is the right time to take the next step in achieving a fully vaccinated workforce,” Baylor Scott & White explained in a press release, according to WFAA.
It added: “The Delta variant is the most contagious and dangerous strain we have seen to date, leading to exponentially increasing rates of severe illness and hospitalization.
“The overwhelming majority of these cases are among the unvaccinated.”
Three of the most common vaccines are Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson that continue to be administered under an emergency use authorization rather than getting full FDA approval.
Only those employers, providers and volunteers claiming an exemption can wiggle out of the vaccination policy.
If an employee wants to try and opt out they better have proof at the ready.
“There are two exceptions,” said Rogge Dunn, a seasoned labor attorney with the Rogge Dunn Group in Dallas.
“One is a sincerely held religious belief and two is if someone has a disability such that they would have an adverse reaction to a vaccine.”
Wednesday’s announcement by Baylor Scott & White Health – comes as the state and country are gripping with another wave of pandemic spread led by the extremely contagious Delta variant.
Big tech companies have already drawn the line on Covid vaccines.
The campuses at both Facebook and Google are going to be open to only those who are vaccinated, CNN reported.
The social networking company Twitter, the rideshare mainstay Lyft as well as streaming film giant Netflix is banning unvaccinated actors and crew from its productions and offices.
Other American industry leaders that are laying down the Covid law and listed by the outlet include: retailer Saks Fifth Avenue, financial corporations Blackrock and Morgan Stanley and the CEO of the Washington Post informed employees a Covid-19 vaccination is “a condition of employment.”
President Joe Biden also made it known that federal employees and onsite contractors must prove they are vaccinated and Covid-19 free.
“If you want to do business with the fed government, get your workers vaccinated,” Biden said while making remarks from the White House on Thursday, according to The Hill.
On Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs became the first principal federal agency requiring its health care workers to get Covid-19 shots.
Dr. Mark Casanova who works at Baylor Scott & White Health supports the mandate.
“The time was right for Baylor Scott & White to make this move, and I suspect others are likely to follow suit soon,” Casanova told WFAA.
The move to ensure all employees are protected from the disease comes after an April 1 announcement by Houston Methodist Hospital which put a policy in place informing all employees to get vaccinated by June 1.
Most read in News
Many of the employees filed a lawsuit claiming they were being unfairly being used as human subjects.
The complainant named Jennifer Bridges and 116 fellow staffers had sued to block the forced injections.
In the June 12 dismissal of Bridges’ suit, US District Judge Lynn Hughes wrote: “Methodist is trying to do their business of saving lives without given them the COVID-19 virus.
“It is a choice made to keep staff, patients, and their families safer. Bridges can freely choose to accept or refuse a COVID-19 vaccine; however; if she refuses she will simply need to work somewhere else.”
Over 100 hospital staff members filed a federal civil lawsuit against their employer for the forced vaccination policy back in April and lost[/caption] Legal experts say employers can fire employees who refuse to get jabbed with the Covid-19 vaccines unless you opt-out for religious reasons or prove the shots would cause harm to you[/caption]