Big multinational firms are considering 'no jab, no job' contracts that make COVID-19 vaccines mandatory for staff, according to a report
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Some top UK firms plan to make
Law firms that declined to be named told the FT that businesses, ranging from care-home operators to big multinationals, were considering contracts that require new and current employees to get a vaccine as soon as it is offered to the UK's adult population.
Pimlico Plumbers, which employs more than 400 people, announced in January a "no jab, no job" policy for new staff members. A spokesperson for the company told Insider that "vaccines are a way out and we have to use them as much as possible.""Our long-term ambition is that all patient and resident-facing staff will have the COVID-19 vaccine in order to protect both themselves and the vulnerable residents and patients in our care," a Barchester Healthcare spokesperson told Insider.
"One option under consideration is that staff who refuse the vaccine on non-medical grounds will, by reason of their own decision, make themselves unavailable for work," they added.One City of London lawyer told the FT that numerous multinational companies, including one large energy group, were looking at the contract clauses.
Another City lawyer said that introducing these clauses in contracts would be risky, because they could lead to discrimination claims. Nadhim Zahawi, the UK's vaccines minister, told the BBC Tuesday "it's up to businesses" whether they want staff to hold coronavirus vaccination passports to prove they've had a shot. But he added that "we don't yet have the evidence of the effect of vaccines on transmission."The British government has previously said it has no plans to introduce vaccine passports, out of concern that they could lead to discrimination against people who can't, or won't, get the vaccine.
Pimlico Plumbers CEO and founder Charlie Mullins said in a statement to Insider: "Some very clever people have worked really hard to give us a weapon that's our best way out of lockdown and back to something resembling
This issue isn't just confined to the UK. A West Monroe poll in January suggested that more than half of companies in the US would require employees to receive the vaccine before going back to work.
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