Solidarity will take employers who dismiss employees over vaccinations to court
18 June 2021
Solidarity will take employers to court who dismiss employees because of their choice not to be vaccinated. Following the new directive as issued by the Department of Labour on 28 May 2021, Solidarity obtained a comprehensive external legal opinion confirming that employees have a right to choose not to be vaccinated and employers may not deprive them of this choice.
Solidarity is of the opinion that there is certainty in the directive from the Department that employees have the right to refuse the vaccine on the grounds of Constitutional and bodily integrity reasons and that employers must do everything in their power to accommodate such employees. According to Solidarity it will be illegal for an employer to make vaccinations compulsory without considering individuals’ Constitutional rights such as bodily integrity.
According to Solidarity CEO, Dirk Hermann, vaccinations globally will play a major role in the fight against the virus. It will also be the case in South Africa. This is not about a “for or against the vaccine” debate, but about the freedom to choose.
Solidarity argues that some supporters of the compulsory workplace vaccinations would like to argue that the employer, according to the directive, has unlimited rights to unilaterally decide about vaccinations at work, but that it in fact, emphasises that employees have the right to refuse the vaccination based on religious and/or bodily integrity reasons.