Great Britain: employers can legally refuse to hire job candidates who have not had a Covid-19 vaccine

UK Justice Secretary, Robert Buckland has acknowledged that employers can legally insist that new employees are vaccinated against Covid-19. The legality of the ‘no jab no job’ clause will depend “very much on the terms of employment and the particular contract,” the secretary said, however, adding that he would be ” surprised if there were contracts of employment existing now that did make that approach lawful.” “The issue would have to be tested,” he added. In the wake of this statement, Charlie Mullins, the boss of the London plumbing company Pimlico Plumbers, announced that he has already adopted such a clause. “We’ve already had the contracts drawn up, lawyers are very happy with them. They say it’s legal under health and safety laws and we have an obligation to protect our staff and our customers,” he said. Observers, for their part, are urging employers to be cautious, not necessarily over the legalities of the clause itself, but more so over complaints such as from younger jobs candidates who may not have been called forward for inoculation and who might thus claim to be subject to discrimination. It should be noted, however, that the government has stated that it would be illegal to impose vaccination on employees already under contract. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman stated, “taking a vaccine is not mandatory and it would be discriminatory to force somebody to take one.”