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New Zealand law experts weigh in on 'no jab, no job'

Monday 20 September 2021, 8:35AM

By Media Giant

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As New Zealand’s vaccine rates pick up, some employers are seeking to ensure their workforce is vaccinated. It has led to the term ‘no jab, no job’ becoming more popular amongst workers and the media. 

From a legal perspective, ‘no jab, no job’ is not as black and white as it seems. 

For example, MBIE (the Ministry for Business, Innovation and Employment) has stated that businesses cannot simply require their staff to be vaccinated. However, businesses can require that specific jobs are only completed by vaccinated people.

This is a subtle yet important distinction, and it all comes down to whether specific roles would have a “high risk of contracting and transmitting Covid-19 to others”. 

It is up to individual businesses to determine whether or not roles are high risk. For example, a doctor’s office may determine that everyone in the building is at high risk due to coming into contact with sick and compromised members of the public, and therefore must be vaccinated. 

Similarly, a small cafe owner might deem all of their staff as at high risk because the staff all work together in a small enclosed space, and therefore must be vaccinated. 

If someone working at that doctor’s office or in the cafe were to refuse the vaccine, it’s not that they would be fired as punishment - it’s that they would be made redundant because there are no non-high-risk roles available. 

This means that legally, an employer can make employees redundant due to their non-vaccinated status, as those employees could pose a risk to other workers, clients and customers, or the community. That’s why so many employers may choose to adopt this distinction, and why so many employees may be at risk of redundancy should they forgo immunisation. 

Buckett Law, a New Zealand firm that specialises in employment law, has recently covered this exact topic in their recent blog, ‘No jab, no job’, which you can read in full here: https://buckettlaw.co.nz/blog/no-jab-no-job/

Businesses and employees seeking legal advice on vaccinations can contact Buckett Law by calling (04) 472 8600 or emailing reception@buckettlaw.co.nz to find out more.