You don’t need to wait for a mandate from Government around vaccination requirements, you can begin a risk assessment to assess the risks of COVID-19 exposure at your place of business now.
- This is step 1 in assessing whether you are able to operate under the new COVID-19 Protection Framework.
- Step 2 is to conduct a consultation with your staff who have refused to get a vaccination.
It is important to note that the risk assessment is different to your consultation process. Your risk assessment is an overview of the roles within your business and what you consider to be roles that may need to be filled by vaccinated employees because of the risk of the infectious disease, COVID-19.
When can I expect to start the consultation process?
You are likely to be able to start this mid-late next week when we have a clear understanding from Government of the dates for when employees must be vaccinated by. We will have resources for you to use to start this process.
Can I terminate employment now? I know the law is going to come soon anyway!
At this point, you are unable to terminate employment based on the current position. If you do terminate an employee, you risk receiving a personal grievance for unjustified dismissal, because the legislation which may protect you from terminating an employee for COVID-19 related reasons, has not yet been passed.
Even under the new legislation, you will need to follow a robust consultation process before you are able to terminate an employee, or you may be at risk of receiving a personal grievance for not having followed the right process.
How to move forward
- Encourage vaccinations.
- Start the conversation.
- Do a risk assessment.
- Prepare for opening.
- Identify those unvaccinated in your business where possible and encourage them to be vaccinated.
We will have more detailed information, including the consultation process, available soon. Further information on a risk assessment framework that you can adapt for your business is here.