Business urges government to clarify laws on compulsory Covid vaccines

Employers fear they could face a manslaughter or negligence claim if they respect a worker’s wish not to get the jab and someone dies from Covid-19.

A nurse administers the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine at a drive through vaccination centre in Melton in Melbourne on Monday. Picture: Getty Images

Business has called on the Morrison government to urgently clarify the law on compulsory workplace vaccinations, saying companies had to balance the risk of manslaughter or negligence lawsuits against infringement of individual rights.

The dilemma was highlighted last Thursday when food processor SPC became the first non-healthcare company to mandate vaccines for all onsite staff and visitors.

The company, based in Shepparton in regional Victoria, said it wanted all of its 450 onsite workers to be fully vaccinated by November, arguing its strict Covid-19 protocols fell short of what was required for the highly infectious Delta variant.

Brickworks chief executive Linsday Partridge said on Monday that the current health and safety laws posed a challenge for both management and workers.

“I think the government should show more leadership (because) health and safety laws are such that you run the risk of being sued if you force unvaccinated workers to get the vaccine, after everyone has had a fair opportunity to get vaccinated,” Mr Partridge told The Australian.

“Once everyone has had the opportunity, there is enormous pressure on companies to make sure everyone is vaccinated, so how do we force that? That is the contention.

“As senior management, we run the risk of being charged with negligence or manslaughter if someone were to die (from Covid-19) and I don’t think that any company can take that risk.”

Other major employers, including Qantas, have previously indicated that they would look at a vaccine directive for staff.

Company-mandated vaccines have become increasingly widespread in the US, including Microsoft and Google.

Brickworks CEO Lindsay Partridge. Picture: Hollie Adams

However, after a national cabinet meeting last week Scott Morrison said that it was up to employers to make their own decisions on the issue.

The Prime Minister said any such decision would have to be made within the existing legal framework and public health directions.

“We do not have a mandatory vaccination policy in this country,” Mr Morrison said.

“We are not proposing to have that.

“That is not changing.

“But an employer may make a reasonable directive to staff and if they do so, they will have to stay consistent with the law and particularly in dealing with a situation where an employee may be in direct contact, potentially become infected and acquire the virus.”

Larry Drewsen, the health and safety manager of the nation’s biggest workplace relations adviser, Employsure, said employers who wanted their staff vaccinated could face a Fair Work claim if a worker was sacked for refusing a jab.

He said bosses could not force employees to get vaccinated.

However, circumstances could change as vaccination rates continued to climb, and employers should “tread with caution” and maintain open communication with workers over their vaccination rights.

There was also an overriding obligation to do everything that was reasonably practicable to reduce the health and safety risk in the workplace.

After a national cabinet meeting last week Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that it was up to employers to make their own decisions on the issue mandatory vaccines. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Mr Partridge said Brickworks had daily mandatory Covid-19 rapid tests for workers at manufacturing sites, brick kilns and other facilities but this was unsustainable and the government needed to step in to provide clarity and legal certainty.

The company, which pumps out a million bricks a week, has been forced to halt operations at a number of its kilns across NSW and Queensland due to the lockdowns, causing bottlenecks after a reduction in brick sales.

While there was a partial restart of construction activity in August, brick sales were at only half of pre-lockdown levels.

This had resulted in a number of storage yards reaching full capacity.

Mr Partridge said he understood the importance of individual rights, but argued that Covid-19 was not like the flu.

“This is massive – people coming to work and potentially infecting people who have no resistance to it,” he said.

“It’s an obvious risk, we all know about it – the question is what do we do about it?

“Hopefully the government will come out with some guidelines, and if you follow these guidelines employers won’t be open to being sued.”

Announcing the $1.2bn acquisition of Citi’s consumer banking business in Australia on Monday, National Australia Bank chief executive Ross McEwan encouraged everybody to get vaccinated “so we don’t have to keep locking the economy down”.

“I think it’s the only way out of (the pandemic) now,” Mr Mc­Ewan said.

NAB CEO Ross McEwan. Picture: Aaron Francis

The NAB chief raised the prospect of a double-dip recession, with most of the nation’s large states now in some form of lockdown.

Consumer confidence deteriorated in lockdowns, he said, but the upside was that the bounce-back was usually “very, very quick”.

“But we may well be back into another two quarters (of negative growth),” Mr McEwan said.

Suncorp chief executive Steve Johnston said communication about the vaccine rollout could be better.

“The principles of communication include being clear and consistent and that has not always been the case,“ Mr Johnston said.

Suncorp placed advertisements in metropolitan newspapers on Monday calling for a rapid and safe rollout of vaccines as a “ticket to a more normal existence”, noting the alarming spread of the Delta variant across Australia. Suncorp is offering paid leave to staff to allow them to get vaccinated during work time.

“All members of the board and the Australian-based members of the executive leadership team are either fully vaccinated or are waiting their second dose,” the Suncorp boss said.

Transurban chief executive Scott Charlton steered clear of mandatory vaccinations, saying he was “an engineer, not a health expert”.

“It’s really up to those experts and the legal experts to determine that (mandatory vaccines),” he said, adding he had received the jab.

“Obviously we’ll follow the law or be doing everything we can to encourage our employees to get vaccinated.”