In our new Ask The Legal Expert column we get the latest specialist advice from JCP Solicitors, which has an office in Cowbridge.

This month, Natasha Johnston, HR advisor in JCP's HR Team, discusses an issue around employment contracts that has been highlighted by a recent media story.

Employers and employees may have noticed a story in the media about high profile firm, Pimlico Plumbers, which is allegedly planning to rewrite its workers' contracts to require them to have the Covid-19 vaccination if it is safe for them to do so.

From an employment law perspective, this issue is complex. Rewriting contracts with existing workers and employees is something that should be done collaboratively, following strict protocols and practices, not simply delivered as a fait accompli.

Legally, companies cannot force employees to take a vaccine as individuals have the Human Right to refuse medical treatment. People who refuse vaccination and are subsequently dismissed may have grounds to make a legal claim.

However, clearly, when it comes to receiving the vaccine, there are different thresholds of need in every sector. If, as an organisation, you operate within the social care sector, for example, you may be able to successfully argue it is a 'reasonable management request' for employees to be vaccinated on the basis that Covid-19 poses a serious risk to the vulnerable people you care for.

As an employer, you should consider which teams you deem to need the vaccine in order for your operations to function. Assess what action you would want to take if staff refuse vaccination - would it be a disciplinary matter, or could you offer them an alternative role?

It is important to note that such an instruction might not be deemed reasonable and any process you follow to manage the fall-out of a refusal must be fair and based on individual circumstances. You must carefully weigh up the fact that an employee who refuses the vaccine could argue there is a discriminatory issue to consider such as:

· age - if employees are not considered to need to be vaccinated for their duties and offered it irrespective of the NHS roll out system;

· disability - if they are advised not to have it due to a medical condition, have documented reactions to vaccinations or they have an extreme phobia that causes anxiety around vaccinations/needles;

· sex/pregnancy - as outlined in the example above; and

· religion or beliefs - if they are advised not be vaccinated by a religious leader, or if they are anti-vaxers and hold this as a philosophical belief

There are also potential Data Protection issues. Vaccination records are sensitive personal information - you should weigh up why you need to hold such information and how you will safeguard it.

We are in the very early days of the roll-out and anxieties are running high. An employer needs to be able to show that vaccines are a necessity from a health and safety standpoint in order to justify disciplinary action or treating employees differently if they are not vaccinated.

It is likely an employer would also need to show they have exhausted all other measures to protect the health and safety of staff and those they come in contact with, before they could reasonably justify mandating the vaccine to protect staff.

If you want to make it a job requirement to have vaccinations this would need to be written into employment contracts and you would need to go through a contract variation process to make this amendment after the fact.

Our HR team is on hand to provide specialist legal advice. For more information, contact: [email protected] or 01446 771 742.