Vaccination requirements to work in a tech job office in Dublin

@Risteard81 wrote:

On what basis?

OP, to answer the question the short answer as to whether they can do this is "probably". You phrase it very specifically that, "To enter the Dublin office" requires vaccination.

If it is a remote job where working in the office is a possibility - but only for vaccinated people - then they absolutely can do this. If it's a case that it's a job on site and you must be vaccinated to get into the office, then it is a grey area.

Strictly speaking they may not be able to demand your vax status before giving you the job, but on your first day if you cannot get into the office because you cannot prove you're vaccinated, then they can just fire you and there's fvck all you can do about it.

As another person says above, they may also make travel to US an occasional condition of employment. As a result if you cannot go when they send you because you're unvaccinated, they can just fire you.

Functionally you can be let go for any reason in the first 12 months and there's nothing you can do about it.

Functionally, the operator of any private premises can ask you to pull down your pants and show them your arse if they want. You can refuse, and just not enter the premises.

Obviously when access to those premises is required by individuals for work or any other kind of necessary business, entry requirements have to be somewhat limited to things that are necessary to preserve the business. So a gym can refuse entry unless you have proof of membership. Because otherwise anyone can wander in and the business goes bust.

Likewise, in the interests of protecting the health of staff (a statutory obligation), a business may be entitled to insist that all people entering the premises - staff and visitors - are vaccinated and can show proof of such.

It's a grey area, but there are plenty of reasons why it may be legal, and arguments for it being illegal are relatively flimsy.

Of course, companies are going to come a cropper on this. As soon as a very important customer or board member gets a special dispensation to enter the building despite being unvaccinated, the company is going to be sued to high heaven.

Yes: I'd expect the staff to have appropriate PPE.

Seems like a few of you are confusing checking vaccination status on existing employees versus using it for vetting new employees. You need the cert to use the inside of a pub, you need the cert to fly to destinations and its probably likely you will get asked for the cert on applying for some jobs.

Having to arrange childcare would also impede travel at the drop of a hat - and is another factor that employers cannot use to discriminate.

None of those circumstances apply for a tech job office though

As this man 👇️ says, there is a difference between asking existing employees for this information, and asking new employees.

Nevertheless, if an employer now wants to make their office "vaccinated only" while giving existing unvaccinated employees the option to work from home, they can likely do that too.

There is absolutely no way you have children

Wasn't that happening for months before vaccines were available?

As healthcare professional, not only is it my job to worry about the care and safety of my patients but it’s also my legal requirement. I can be sacked, sued and struck off if I didn’t worry about them.

wife works for a sub company of HSE. every job posted on their internal applications noticeboard has

"proof of vaccination will be required in this position"

Article 6.1.d

It is legal when...

"processing is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of the data subject or of another natural person"

If you refuse to get a vaccine but insist on coming to the office, you are endangering the "vital interests" of your coworkers, thus you could easily argue your employer is entitled to request and process this data.

The "my body, my choice" thing doesn't hold up here.

I have absolutely no concern for the personal outcomes of people who choose not get vaccinated. If you want to get Covid, that's fine.

However, you'll likely infect several other people in the process. That's not fine.

So it's your choice, but other people's bodies.

A better comparison is smoking in the office. That is banned not to protect the smokers but to protect others from them.

Those of us who do the right thing deserve to be protected from those who choose not to.

If you don't want to take the vaccine that's fine, I totally agree no one should be forced to. But you cannot expect to opt out of very important parts of shared society and still expect to participate in everything else.

No, vaccines are not 100% effective against transmission.

But being unvaccinated is 0% effective.

Now, if an employer can do SOMETHING to protect their employees, even if that protection is not absolute, then they're probably obliged to do it.

It's like saying a hard hat won't protect you on a building site if a cement mixer falls on you, so hard hats are pointless.

As for choices dictating participation, I would argue it is the choice of the anti vaxxers that is dictating the consequences. This isn't like home schooling your kids or being a vegan. This is making a choice that will kill other people.

What law are they breaking? Perhaps if they tried to force existing employees, but in an interview, unless they impinge on the nine protected catagories in discrimination, mostly anything goes.

It would but it would not prevent you from traveling continually. You could arrange childcare with notice, you cannot travel on a plane without a COVID cert. If foreign travel was a requirement of the job asking for a COVID certificate would be like looking for a driving license off a travelling salesman

Vaccines protect people. I think I saw a stat that of the 50 odd ICU cases, less than 10( I think the numbers quoted was 5) are people who have been vaccinated. That's a startling statistic. As people most impacted by COVID are older or vulnerable people.

In a way it shows your misunderstanding of safety. Yes a hardhead will protect you if a nut or bolt falls from a height it will stop you from a life changing injury if it hits your head, if it bounces onto your shoulder or hits yo on the back you still get injured, if it's an RSJ that falls on you, it no f@@king use. So the hard hat done not provide 100% protection either.

It's interesting as well that you choose hard hats. ESB electricians are require to wear hard hats even inside in installation where nothing will fall on them on insulated floors. It prevents the top head from providing an earth contact off equipment that might kill them if they come in contact with live current.