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Vaccines in the Workplace – What now?

Thursday, February 24th, 11 am SAST

So much seems to have changed since last year, when Covid still posed such a threat to our lives and livelihood. Omicron has been and gone, with far less impact on our hospitals, absenteeism and the general well-being of South Africans. We seem to have weathered the storm well.

We have seen a few cases in the CCMA on mandatory vaccines, a recent case upholding the right of companies to dismiss an unvaccinated employee, who refused to be vaccinated, on the basis of incapacity.

We explore the impact of this outcome, what the current position is from a legal perspective - can we still insist that creating a healthy and safe environment is justifiable cause to dismiss employees who are vaccine hesitant/reluctant? 

In anticipation of a possible lifting of the state of disaster after the 15th February 2022 we explore the landscape we find ourselves in.

Thus far, the simple argument has been that in a global pandemic employees can hardly be precious about their constitutional freedom of choice, bodily integrity, or religious conviction and employers are within their right to require all their employees to be vaccinated in the interests of safety of all staff, clients and customers.

NEDLAC has also taken the Department of Employment and Labour directive, published on the 11th June 2021, further and underpinned the right of employers to implement mandatory vaccines. We are aware of several trade unions who are challenging this approach on the basis of employee rights to choose. We examine these opposing views, discuss what the likely outcome of the lessening impact of Covid on all of us and how this will influence what we as organisations should do now.

We will cover:

  • Is it still justifiable to implement mandatory vaccines?
  • What is the best way of ensuring ongoing health and safety of all our employees?
  • What type of policy should we be implementing?
  • What is the best way of consulting our staff and how do we best inform our employees?
  • How do we navigate our way through this more uncertain terrain?

This workshop will set you up on how to conduct a good consultation process, paving the way for policy introduction and making sure that you weigh up all the factors, before implementing any policy that can alienate your employees. Join Marleen Potgieter, a Labour Law expert and owner of Equity Works for a webinar to answer any questions you might have around your process.

Registration fee: R520

incl. VAT

More about the Trainer

Marleen Potgieter is a qualified attorney who has had extensive experience in Employment Equity Compliance. She was instrumental in writing the original Regulations to the EEA when it was first passed, and also penned the Summary of the EEA, the poster that is compulsory in all workplaces.

Marleen co-authored the Juta book on Unfair Discrimination, wrote a book on Social Media in the Workplace and has helped many companies with employment equity compliance since passing of the act in 1998.

She has trained and advised many clients on Dispute Resolution, general labour compliance (including advice on the COVID-19 landscape, disciplinary processes, sound performance management systems and absence management. She is also a qualified Executive Coach.

– Clients: Sanlam, Deutsche Bank, Caltex, Ogilvy & Mather, Unilever, M&C Saatchi Abel, UWC, USB Stellenbosch, Bank of America, UBS, Nova Group, Nandos, Sibanye Stillwater, FCB and Hello Computer and many others.

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