By KHRISNA RUSSELL

Tribune Chief Reporter

krussell@tribunemedia.net

LABOUR Director John Pinder has said employees have the right to file trade disputes in instances where employers deem it mandatory for workers to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Mr Pinder said the Department of Labour has received calls from employees at a Nassau company and an establishment in Andros indicating there were efforts to force them to receive the shot.

Mr Pinder said he spoke to both employers.

“Certainly, the one in Nassau they agreed that they couldn’t force that on the staffers because of the competent authority not saying that it’s mandatory,” he told reporters yesterday after receiving the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at St Anselm’s Roman Catholic Church.

“So, they decided that they would go along with having them to bring the regular testing at least every five days.

“The other one said, ‘okay we are going to review the policy on it and cause there to be some decision made also in line with the protocols,’ which speak to having the regular testing done.”

Mr Pinder added that employers could not unilaterally require the vaccine in instances where terms and conditions of employment were already agreed upon.

“A new employee, a new hire, yes, [an employer can require the vaccine], but if I already have my terms and conditions laid down in my employment contract, the employer has no right to unilaterally amend my contract. We have to agree.”

In such instances where employers require that the jab be taken, Mr Pinder said: “…You have all right, if he tries to discipline you. to file a trade dispute.

“Now again, the Employment Act makes provisions for the employer to do some things if you and he are not seeing eye to eye. He’ll have to pay you out of your contract, and I guess dismiss you.”

Recently, workers at Sushi Rokkan, a western New Providence restaurant, were told that failure to comply with a mandatory vaccine rule would see them reassigned from front-line posts to other duties or, in a worst-case scenario, suffer termination.

Michael Scott, who owns the restaurant along with his wife, argued this approach was the only way to ensure his business survives while remaining in line with the Health and Safety at Work Act’s legal stipulations to maintain a secure workplace.

“In my private capacity, I am subject to the Health and Safety at Work Act,” he told Tribune Business on Monday. “That imposes upon me a duty to create a safe system of work so as not to endanger members of the public.

“On a practical level I don’t want to be in the invidious position of having guests dine in the restaurant looking for sushi and leave with COVID-19 as a dessert. If there is a vaccine available, why should people not want to be vaccinated?

“If members of the public get infected at the restaurant, not only do I fall afoul of the (Health and Safety at Work) Act but it will kill the business. Only a fool would not pay attention to this; this necessity.”

Mr Scott, in particular, pointed to sections four, five and seven of the Health and Safety at Work Act as imposing a legal duty on all Bahamas-based employers to protect both employees and customers in the workplace. He argued that companies could be held in violation of this requirement if they failed to take all necessary steps to prevent COVID-19 infections and spread.

However, Mr Pinder, attorneys and trade union leaders have all argued that mandating workers take the COVID-19 vaccine as a condition of retaining their jobs is both illegal and unconstitutional.