‘No jab, no job’: the legal implications for employers

The law does not currently permit vaccinations to be mandatory

Millions of people in the UK have reportedly received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, in line with the Government's ambition to ensure that all UK adults are offered a vaccine over the coming months. However, vaccination also raises a number of legal issues, chief of which is the potential legal implications of employers making vaccinations a requirement of employment.

In February 2021, Robert Buckland, Secretary of State for Justice, indicated that it may be legal for companies to insist on new staff being vaccinated as a condition of their employment, as long as this requirement was written into their contract (BBC News, 2021).

The response to this ‘no jab, no job’ concept has raised a number of questions as to the lawfulness of their actions if employers insist on their employees being vaccinated.