Firms' next challenge: Handling staff refusing to take Covid-19 vaccine

Top European biz group with representation from top firms to approach govt for guidelines

Multinational companies operating in India and big domestic firms are grappling with an emerging challenge: How to deal with employees who refuse to take the Covid vaccine when they come back to office.

A top European business group with representatives from leading companies is planning to approach the government through national industry associations as well European Union bodies, requesting guidelines on this issue. “We have had discussion on this issue and plan to seek guidance from the government. Any talk on this would happen only after the first round of trials is over,” said a senior executive of a European major involved in the discussion.

HR firms, which advise their clients, say the approach will vary from company to company, depending on the nature of the job.

“We expect companies to take different approaches. In entities where work can be done remotely, there will be no problem or change required. For jobs that require working in close proximity, companies could mandate taking the vaccine for new recruitment as well as current employees,” said Rituparna Chakraborty, co- founder and executive president of TeamLease.

Chakraborty said companies would wait to see the results of the first phase of vaccination, which would be known at the end of March. It is only after that, when the second phase of vaccination starts, will the companies take a decision. Many companies are exploring possibilities of buying vaccines in bulk for their employees once the restrictions imposed by the government on selling them to the private sector are lifted.

The government, however, has made it clear that the choice of taking the jab is voluntary. However, legal experts say companies can incorporate changes in rules to protect their staff.

Sanjeev Kumar, partner in Luthra & Luthra Partners, said: “Employment is a private contact between employee and employer. The terms can be changed by the latter and need to be accepted. One has to see whether incorporating the clause is lawful and or not. In this case the intention is clear -- protecting the employees.”

Companies, for instance, make health check-ups mandatory for a new employee to join.

Many other companies say they have been running factories for the past eight to nine months by following strict rules on social distancing, and that has worked. So while they will encourage factory workers to take the vaccine, they do not favour making it mandatory.

Sharad Malhotra, president, Nippon Paints India, said: “Our workers have been working in factories for the past eight to nine month. We will continue to follow the same norms like RTPCR (reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction) tests for workers who go home and that of people working in the labs periodically. At the moment I don’t see adding the clause of making the vaccine mandatory.”