Insurers, employers and lawyers in the UK and US see mandatory vaccinations as a growing area of contention as workers return to their desks
A woman reacts as she is injected with Sputnik Light vaccine against the coronavirus disease at a local hospital in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine August 2 2021. REUTERS/ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO Liability insurers on both sides of the Atlantic are scaling back the cover they offer companies ahead of an expected wave of discrimination claims as employers call staff back to their desks after 18 months of pandemic-induced home working.
“How you don't discriminate, how you deal with vaccination and testing — those are all difficult things for employers to work through,” he told Reuters. US vaccination-related claims amount to less than 5% of total Covid-19 suits — or fewer than 150 — said Kevin Troutman, partner and co-chair of Fisher Phillips' Healthcare Industry Team. But that is expected to rise.
A number of US employers with such policies have already faced court hearings. Workers at a Texas hospital alleged the vaccinations are experimental and that staff are being used as “human guinea pigs”.But workers could have protection if they are unable to be vaccinated for medical or religious reasons — unless this would pose an “undue hardship” on the business, the US Insurance Information Institute says.
On vaccination, lawyers say that “no jab, no job” contracts — such as those offered by London-based Pimlico Plumbers — risk discriminating against younger staff, who may not yet have been offered their second vaccine, or pregnant women, who might prefer to be vaccinated after childbirth. Lloyd's of London insurers are among those to strip EPLI cover out of broader insurance packages they offer businesses, to keep a lid on prices. But specialist insurers in Bermuda, for example, still offer such cover, brokers said.AmTrust has recorded a 22% increase in requests for cover since the pandemic started, driven in part by new small business customers.
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