London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Monday, Jul 21, 2025

Bosses battle over rights and wrongs of ‘no Covid jab, no job’

Bosses battle over rights and wrongs of ‘no Covid jab, no job’

While big-name US firms can compel their staff to be vaccinated against Covid, in the UK the issue is a legal and moral minefield
After a turbulent 18 months running an online retail business during the pandemic, Julie Jones is now facing a new challenge.

One of her eight employees has decided not to get vaccinated against Covid-19. The company, based in the north-west of England, works in a small office space, and having one unvaccinated team member is causing health and financial concerns for Jones (not her real name) and her other staff.

“It’s a difficult situation. I’m between a rock and a hard place. I would really rather she was jabbed, but I feel it is personal choice,” Julie said.

“It’s not a healthcare setting, and I don’t feel it’s my place as an employer to ask her to do something medical she isn’t comfortable with. But I am also very concerned about the potential impact on the business if she went off with Covid and the rest of us had to isolate.”

Despite this, Jones has decided not to tell her employees they need to be fully vaccinated to enter the office, over fears it could lead to the loss of a valued team member.

“She’s a fantastic employee and I would rather take the risk of her not being jabbed than risk an argument and her potentially leaving over it,” she said.

Thousands of businesses and organisations of all sizes are weighing up how best to bring workers safely back to their desks after many months of remote working. They are also aware that making vaccination demands of their staff is a moral, and legal, minefield.

Like Jones, some employers fear a “no jab, no job” policy could at best risk resignations, or at worst leave them open to legal claims of unfair dismissal or discrimination. As a result, companies are divided over how best to protect staff during a widespread return to the office.

Many workers have said they would feel safer in the workplace if they knew that other colleagues were also fully immunised. Almost a quarter (24%) of business managers said they would only be prepared to work with colleagues who had been double-jabbed, according to a recent survey by the Chartered Management Institute. The poll found employees aged 55 and over were more likely than younger people to say they would only want to share a work space with the fully vaccinated.

Large American corporates have embraced the policy of mandatory vaccinations more enthusiastically than their British counterparts. US financial firms, which have been the loudest in expressing their desire to get workers back to the office, were also among the first to tell their teams that only fully vaccinated staff could return to their headquarters.

Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley will only allow double-jabbed employees into its New York office when they return in September; others will have to work at home.

Vanguard, one of the world’s largest investment firms, is approaching the issue differently; it is offering US employees a $1,000 (£718) “Covid incentive” if they can show proof of vaccination by October.

Following a surge in Covid cases in the US because of the spread of the Delta variant, tech giant Google has just told its employees they will have to be vaccinated to return to its corporate buildings. Chief executive Sundar Pichai informed workers the policy would initially be implemented in the US before being adopted globally. Other US tech firms including Uber and Facebook have also said that employees must be vaccinated.

In the UK, however, making vaccination a condition of return to the workplace could leave employers open to accusations of discrimination or even unfair dismissal, according to employment lawyers.

The government had to pass legislation in order to compel care homes to make sure all workers in England, without medical exemption, were fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and this will come into force in November.

Demanding workers are vaccinated is “arguably a breach of human rights: you have a right not to go through a medical procedure,” said Kathryn Evans, head of employment law at Trethowans. “You’ve got a whole raft of issues, starting from the work contract not requiring someone to get vaccinated, to claims of unfair dismissal, to discrimination.”

The employment rights enshrined in law for UK workers mean employers are expected to tread carefully.

Sharon Birch, who owns Footprints Learning for Life nursery in Hartlepool, has favoured encouragement over compulsion for her employees. She would prefer her staff to be vaccinated, to protect both themselves, their colleagues and some of the more vulnerable children they look after.One of Birch’s 35-strong team initially decided not to get vaccinated, while her youngest employees are still waiting to be called up for their appointments.

“I don’t want to enforce it. I sat and had a conversation with one staff member and discussed the reasons why, not necessarily to convince her, but to understand her motives. We discussed the benefits of the vaccine and she has now gone and had her first one,” she said.

“I think we have a responsibility to the families that we look after to give them the best protection that we can, by being responsible”.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
×