The Evolving Workplace: Mandatory vaccination policies - what employers need to know

18 August 2021

Felicity Edwards
Partner
Sparke Helmore Lawyers

Felicity Edwards
Partner
Sparke Helmore Lawyers
t: +61 2 9373 1469

Felicity is a workplace lawyer who assists clients in the private and public sector with privacy and employment related issues. She has seen matters through to state and federal courts and tribunals including unfair dismissals, general protections claims, contractual disputes and anti-discrimination claims.

Chantal Tipene
Partner
Sparke Helmore Lawyers

Chantal Tipene
Partner
Sparke Helmore Lawyers
t: +61 2 9260 2542

Chantal is a government law specialist with more than 10 years' experience providing specialist legal advice to the Commonwealth, State and local government. Her experience ranges from major procurement and tendering projects to advising on administrative law matters. She understands the pressures that government departments face from her recent in-house experience as the Deputy General Counsel of the NSW Police Force. In 2011, Chantal was recognised by the Law Society of New South Wales as an Accredited Specialist in Government and Administrative Law.

In this “Evolving Workplace” episode, Felicity Edwards and Ben Gottlieb from our Workplace team, and Chantal Tipene, a privacy specialist from our Government team, discuss mandatory COVID vaccination policies in the workplace, and the obligations employers may have from a privacy perspective when they collect information about their employees’ vaccination status.

This is a complex and nuanced issue; in the podcast we discuss:

In what circumstances can an employer provide a lawful and reasonable direction to an employee to have a vaccination?
To what extent can Work Health and Safety obligations be relied upon as a reason to introduce a mandatory vaccination policy?
Key Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) considerations for employers to be mindful of when collecting and storing employee vaccination information.

To hear the podcast, go to The Evolving Workplace: Mandatory vaccination policies—what employers need to know and be directed to Sparke Helmore's podcast page on our website or listen on Podbean through The Sparke Cast host page.

Further information

We hope you find the podcast informative and helpful. If you have any questions regarding the issues raised within the discussion, please get in touch with one of our presenters.

Until next time, stay safe

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