FAQ: Can your employer force you to get the COVID-19 vaccine?

The short answer is yes, but with some exceptions. Private employers are legally permitted to define basic working conditions and can adopt health and safety standards for their workspace. Requiring employees to get vaccinated against diseases that could compromise health and safety in the workplace would be viewed as part of that ability, experts say.

On Dec. 16, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued guidelines stating that employers have the right to impose a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy. The EEOC, the federal agency in charge of enforcing laws to prohibit discrimination in the workplace, previously allowed companies to mandate the flu vaccine.

"Employers generally have wide scope" to make rules for the workplace, said Dorit Reiss, a law professor who specializes in vaccine policies at the University of California Hastings College of the Law. "It's their business."

Yes, people can request exemptions for medical or religious reasons. But they are rare and fit specific criteria.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 stipulates that if an employee has a "sincerely-held religious belief" that prevents them from taking the vaccine the employer cannot require the worker to be vaccinated.

Yes, the Americans with Disabilities Act stipulates that if an employee has a medical disability and cannot safety receive a vaccine, it cannot be mandated by the employer.

There is no political exemption. Social, political and economic beliefs — or a general "anti-vaxxer" position — are not considered a protected group under Title VII.

If an employee qualifies for a religious or disability exemption, the business must try to provide a reasonable accommodation for the worker, such as switching them from working in the office to working from home while COVID-19 poses risks to public health, the guidelines stated.

But businesses do not have to grant an accommodation if it will cause them an "undue hardship," either because it's too costly, logistically burdensome or if it would compromise the health and safety of other employees. Under those circumstances, the employer would have the legal right to "exclude that employee from the workplace," according to the EEOC guidance.

Not automatically. Before termination, an employer must determine whether the employee would be subject to any other local, state or federal regulations and if union labor rules would apply, But if no other possible accommodation can be made, an employee could potentially be terminated for refusing the vaccine, labor experts said.

With The Associated Press

Sign up for COVID-19 text alerts at newsday.com/text.