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The epidemiological situation is deteriorating. Since July 26. Testing requirements for some sectors will go into effect if they are not vaccinated.
Employees working in the field of freight transport, public transport and passenger transport, leisure and entertainment, culture, artistic services, catering services, retail, public administration entities, soldiers of the professional military service, as well as that work with illegal immigrants who flow to Lithuania has to be proven.
You have to look at what the courts will clarify.
Attorney Tomas Bagdanskis, an expert in labor law, believes that Lithuania will probably not follow the stricter path and will not introduce mandatory vaccination of employees. After all, vaccination of citizens is not mandatory at the state level, it is the choice of the residents themselves.
“If a team were vaccinated but not vaccinated, the legal basis of those professions that pose a greater risk both for the rest of the workers and for public safety if they are vaccinated would be modified, indicating when it is possible to suspend work functions and not pay.
And if the legal framework is not changed, then there should be bolder employers who, for those employees who serve a large number of clients, work in relatively large teams and refuse to get vaccinated, say: you put other employees in danger, those around him, that’s why we exclude you.
And then one should look at what the courts will interpret in such a case. But then we should go through the principle of proportionality and justify that the interest of an employee not to be vaccinated would be really less than that of the public, customers, other employees “, – the portal lrytas.lt he said.
T. Bagdanskis suggests, first of all, that employees who do not want to be vaccinated try to demonstrate to their employer that they will take the maximum safety measures: they will wear masks, keep a safe distance, perform some functions at a different time in order to have less contact to work , work remotely.
“If the work organization did not come out this way, then it would be possible to raise the issue of the employee’s dismissal, but certainly not the dismissal,” considers the lawyer.
V. Janulevičius: Vaccination cannot be forced
According to Vidmantas Janulevičius, president of the Lithuanian Confederation of Industrialists (LPK), in order to avoid new restrictions, the spread of new varieties and a strict quarantine in the future, it is necessary to ensure the fastest possible vaccination process. However, vaccination cannot be mandatory.
“Obviously, we need to strengthen the joint operation of companies, state institutions and other social partners to promote vaccination, and it is also necessary to strengthen information activities that provide as much information as possible to skeptics. It is necessary to act now, because the delay and the decrease in the volume of vaccinations can have a painful effect in the near future, “he said.
However, the confederation constantly talks about the right of a person to decide freely and does not dispute it, but in such a situation, in which Lithuania now finds itself, it is necessary to talk about the responsibility of a person for the decisions that are made, he assured . .
“We need to make clear that the problem now is no longer the lack of vaccines, but the reluctance of people to get vaccinated.” It is very obvious that such a humane position will affect everyone around him, because with such a decision he represents a threat to them.
Therefore, such a position must have its price one way or another: a person must take responsibility for such a step and realize that there will be one or another consequence. We also have to decide on mandatory testing on our own for people who refuse to get vaccinated, “he said.
I missed the leadership of Aurelijus Veryga
Danas Arlauskas, director of the Lithuanian Employers’ Confederation, told Žinių radiju that employers do not support compulsory vaccination; vaccines continue to raise questions and therefore it is not acceptable that they are fully responsible for vaccination.
“We believe that there should be alternatives to everything, and testing is one of the good alternatives. Also, not everything possible has been done to persuade people to get vaccinated. The specialists had to go around the companies as early as January. -February and convince employees of its benefits, as we suggest, ”he said.
Employers also don’t yet know what the testing procedure will be (who will need to be tested for how long) and who will pay for it, because testing is quite expensive.
“It just came to our attention then. We have been meeting for a long time in the Emergency Situations Commission of the Ministry of Economy and Innovation, it has not been done for a month and a half, which is very strange when the situation in the country worsens, and we have almost no information. We see what is happening in Australia, in other countries and there is no doubt that something must be done. Otherwise, it is possible that the quarantine will return in the autumn and then the tests will no longer be of much use ”, D. Arlauskas worried.
The employer representative has received several criticisms from the Ministry of Health. “It just came to our notice then. We may have different views on Aurelius Veryga’s leadership times, but now I remember with deep sadness how we very quickly met at that time a commission of deputy ministers and government advisers, and we quickly solved all the problems.
The current minister may be a great specialist, but business organizations get no response to his letters. There is no communication, and yet the business requires employees to test and motivate them to get vaccinated. We have many tensions in the field of information management ”, said D. Arlauskas about the difficulties.
It offers a return to the idea of vaccination.
Inga Ruginienė, president of the Lithuanian Trade Union Confederation (LPSK), calls speeches about compulsory vaccination strange. “Somehow we want to solve all the problems through coercion. It is a bad way, it will cause even more harm, it will completely discourage people from getting vaccinated and even encourage some to leave work.
Coercion gives birth only to anger, aggression, a feeling of rejection. Employers who want to vaccinate employees can get the opposite effect: those who are not afraid of losing their jobs are likely to leave that workplace “, – the portal lrytas.lt she said.
According to her, there were many cases at the beginning of the year in which employees who refused to be vaccinated were punished. Although this is now over, employers are still desperate to vaccinate as many of their employees as possible.
“It just came to our attention then. They are experiencing a panic attack, they fear that businesses will close again, that we will go back to quarantine again. Perhaps that is why these incomprehensible languages exist”, considers I. Ruginienė.
However, the workers’ representative calls for attention to be paid to vaccination rates. “Lithuania is vaccinated quite well, even in summer, although the rate has slowed down, people are still going to be vaccinated. These rates are likely to increase in the fall, therefore, is it necessary to intimidate the public now and make a effort to move skeptics about vaccines to the side of antivirals?
I think it is necessary to educate employees so that they understand the importance of vaccination and want to vaccinate themselves. If our target group is skeptical about the benefits of vaccines, because no one will be talking about antivirals anymore, they need to somehow take them to the side of vaccines.
And the employers themselves can contribute to this as well, why are they not in a hurry to contribute by other means, but are trying to put everything in the hands of the Government? “, I ask.
According to I.Ruginienė, it is possible to enter a vaccination day, because, according to her, the person who was vaccinated knows that this day off is really necessary. Or employers can organize the whole vaccination process themselves, so that employees do not have to get vaccinated on a day off, it can be done during working hours, at the workplace.
“And employers would see how to stimulate the vaccination process. First of all, we must seize these opportunities and only then see how to tackle the issue by force, “says the president of the LPSK.
Courts can receive cases
I.Ruginienė, who is happy with the decisions of France, Greece and Latvia to forcibly vaccinate employees, is in a hurry to calm down: it is only a matter of time before the courts receive certain specific cases.
“If tests, like medical exams, do not violate human rights, then vaccination is a very individual thing. If, however, the Lithuanian government decides to forcibly vaccinate employees, the question is whether it will take 100 percent. responsibility for the consequences?
Because now each of us personally decide to get vaccinated or not. So, if you already decide for me, the responsibility should be taken by the government or the employer that requires the vaccine ”, she is convinced.
I.Ruginienė also recalled the discussions in the confederation on the Communicable Disease Law. “There were different opinions, but we still agreed that the path of coercion is never appropriate. If we had 10 percent. the rate of vaccination, maybe then we would put our hands down and figure out what to do because it would really be a disaster.
And now about 50 percent. populations have immunity and it is clear that it will no longer be like last year and people will continue to be vaccinated.
Furthermore, in the groups for which Latvia has introduced compulsory vaccination, more than 90% have already been vaccinated. people and are already thinking about booster vaccination, that is why this law is aimed at ordinary workers, who worked successfully throughout the pandemic without vaccines, used protection measures, which, by the way, are also effective, “he said.
