COVID Help Desk: Can My Boss Ask If I’m Vaccinated?
Each week, Chronicle reporters field questions about COVID-19, safety precautions and other pandemic-related queries. In this week’s COVID Help Desk, we tackle questions about hand sanitizer, vaccines in the workplace and provide an update on Texas’ vaccination efforts.
What is my employer allowed to ask about my vaccination status?
Pretty much anything, provided they treat your response as they would any other confidential medical information, said Susan Bickley, a labor and employment attorney at Houston’s Blank Rome.
And some groups, including employees at Houston Methodist, have challenged employers’ rights to require vaccines on the grounds that vaccines have only been approved for
Still, she advised businesses to be sensitive to their employees’ feelings and potential health concerns.
But generally speaking, Bickley said, employers in Texas and nationally have the right to ask about or require vaccines. Employees are also allowed to ask one another about vaccines, she said.
“If you’re going to ask, it would be a good idea to take into account the feelings of your workforce,” she said.
To read the full article, please click here.
“COVID Help Desk: Can My Boss Ask If I’m Vaccinated?,” by Robert Downen was published in Houston Chronicle on May 27, 2021.
This coverage was referenced in the Houston Chronicle on May 29, 2021, and June 22, 2021, and reprinted in the Houston Chronicle on June 10, 2021.