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Originally Posted by bitontheslide

Publisher Bloomsbury says vaccines will be compulsory for UK staff returning to its offices when they reopen.

The Harry Potter publisher's decision comes as many firms weigh up the necessity of workforce vaccinations.

The government has announced that care home workers in England will be required to have a vaccination or risk losing their jobs.

Almost 42 million people in the UK have received at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.

Bloomsbury told The Bookseller magazine, which first reported the story, that it had taken both "medical and scientific advice".

"The simple fact is that this virus is still extremely dangerous."

Bank of America has also confirmed that all of its vaccinated employees can return to the office in early September, as more than 70,000 staff have voluntarily disclosed their vaccine status.

Pimlico Plumbers meanwhile, said it would require compulsory vaccination for staff, with the company having already said it would not hire anybody new who was not vaccinated.

Bloomsbury, which is due to reopen on 19 July, made employees aware of the policy in an email ahead of the second May Bank Holiday weekend.

A spokesperson for the company told The Bookseller that "the wellbeing of our staff has been our overarching concern in all our decisions since the start of the pandemic".

"We recently reported the tragic deaths of two Bloomsbury staff from Covid. We will continue to make our own decisions, conscious of the serious consequences of making the wrong ones.

"Inevitably, not everyone will agree. We accept this and, as with so many decisions in the pandemic, we have to do what we believe is right for the wellbeing of all our staff."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-57481895

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This is going to become the norm

I suspect they're on very shaky legal ground here, unlike care homes/healthcare there's no aspect here of working with vulnerable members of the public and I doubt it's legal to dismiss a staff member for refusing a medical procedure -- which is what this would amount to. I think they'd be wide open to unfair dismissal claims unless the law is changed first.

On balance I hope it is challenged legally and is found to not be legal. I fully encourage everyone to get their Covid vaccinations but this is an extremely worrying route for us to start going down in terms of precedent.