No vax, no hire; employers can also terminate unvaccinated workers as last resort

EMPLOYEES who refuse to disclose their Covid-19 vaccination status can be treated as unvaccinated, and companies can terminate workers who do not comply with their workforce vaccination measures as a last resort, according to an advisory by the Ministry of Manpower (MOM).

Employers can also impose a vaccination requirement upfront when hiring new staff for the purpose of planning deployment at the workplace, MOM said in response to a set of frequently asked questions on its website.

These workforce vaccination measures are applicable to anyone working at the same premises as their employees, including independent contractors and vendors, it said.

Employers can also request staff to show their vaccination status through their TraceTogether app and token, HealthHub app or the original physical vaccination card.

This is an update from an earlier position taken by MOM and its tripartite partners - the National Trades Union Congress and the Singapore National Employers Federation.

On Jul 2, a joint advisory said employers may impose a vaccination requirement for workplaces that are considered to have a higher risk of Covid-19 infection, but staff should not be penalised if they decline vaccination.

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In its latest advisory on Covid-19 vaccination at the workplace, MOM said for work that can be performed at home, employers may allow unvaccinated workers to work remotely at their prerogative.

However, it added: "As the vast majority of vaccinated employees eventually return to the workplace more frequently, the prolonged absence of the unvaccinated employees from the workplace may affect their individual performance as well as negatively impact team or organisational performance."

As for work that cannot be performed at home, MOM said employers can allow them to continue in their existing job with pre-event testing done at the employees' own expense, or such staff may be redeployed to suitable jobs that can be done from home.

As a last resort, however, they may be placed on no-pay leave or terminated with notice in accordance with their employment contract.

"If termination of employment is due to employees' inability to be at the workplace to perform their contracted work, such termination of employment would not be considered as wrongful dismissal," MOM said.

The tripartite partners have also urged the remaining 30 per cent of employers to make a "concerted push" to get their unvaccinated employees to be vaccinated as soon as possible.

Companies can now check their company's vaccination rate at https://go.gov.sg/percentvaccinated.

On Saturday (Oct 23), Singapore's Covid-19 multi-ministry taskforce said 96 per cent of the country's workforce is vaccinated. Of the remaining 113,000 unvaccinated employees, over 10 per cent are seniors.

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