CAN YOU REFUSE EMPLOYMENT WHEN AN APPLICANT HAS NOT HAD THE COVID-19 VACCINATION? – ON

[Conner Lantz]

#80006

The company is looking to hire a temporary contractor. One candidate who were presented by an agency claims he is not vaccinated. We currently don’t have vaccine mandate policy in place, but can we refuse to hire this person? Offer or anything like that has not been put forward.

[Conner Lantz]

#80005

Best scenario: Reject him based on his credentials and experience using your standard hiring criteria so the decision isn’t vaccination-related. If he is qualified and the vaccine is the only reason for rejecting him, just be sure that:

1. You can document that you’ve done site-specific COVID assessment and concluded that bringing in an unvaccinated person would pose undue risk
2. You follow that approach consistently with all applicants seeking similar positions–otherwise the vaccination justification might come off as a pretext

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