A proliferation of Employment Tribunal claims arising from “no jab, no job” dismissals is of interest to employment lawyers north and south of the border.
In 2021, the UK government issued regulations requiring staff working in Care Quality Commission-regulated facilities to be vaccinated against Covid-19. Whilst the vast majority of employees obtained the vaccine, various care facility operators encountered individuals who refused to do so. A substantial number of those employees were ultimately dismissed based on their refusal.
As was perhaps inevitable, claims from those ex-employees are now working their way through the Employment Tribunal system – featuring allegations that those dismissals were unfair and unlawful. Most of those claims are in England – the extent of the CQC’s jurisdiction – but certain aspects of the situation will be of interest to employment lawyers in Scotland, given the similarities in statutory employment law and Employment Tribunal procedure in the two jurisdictions.
Under the UK government regulations, the deadline for care sector employees to be double vaccinated was 11 November 2021. The requirement was relatively short-lived, however. On 31 January 2022, Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced plans to abolish it – with the regulations duly revoked from 15 March 2022.
As a result of the revocation – and the time lag for cases to progress through the Employment Tribunal system – care facility operators...
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