Will employers be able to require workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine?

The state is about a week away from receiving its first COVID-19 vaccine doses and not long after that, pending FDA approval, priority patients will start getting the shots here in the Buckeye State.

But, once the vaccine becomes more widely available, could your employer require you get the shot to keep your job?

>> Coronavirus: Daily hospitalizations set record as state sees over 12,000 new cases today

Some people in the Miami Valley are OK is their boss requires the vaccine.

“I think it would be a good idea. Because it would be for everybody’s safety. The employees and the employers,” said Louis Dixon of Dayton.

Others, not so much.

““I could see why they would enforce it being that people are really catching this virus. But at the same time, you shouldn’t force it on a person that they don’t really feel comfortable doing,” said Naomi Redmon of Dayton.

News Center 7′s John Bedell took one of the biggest questions WHIO continues to be asked to an employment lawyer.

“I believe in most circumstances, the employer can require that,” said Jason Matthews, an attorney at Dayton Employment Lawyer. “There are some exceptions.”

The exceptions, Matthews said, would be for things like medical or religious exemptions. Employees also could ask for a reasonable accommodation under the Americans with Disabilities Act that they be excluded from a vaccine requirement.

Matthews said he isn’t sure whether a business would mandate instead of strongly suggest the vaccine, but he says there are some lines of work where employers are more likely to require it. Those lines of work include healthcare, first responders and teachers.

“I think that the other issue here is that just because you can have the disease you can pass it on without potentially knowing that or having symptoms, it just creates a situation where I think a lot of employers would feel better to have employees vaccinated,” Matthews said.

The state of Ohio and Gov. Mike DeWine has said they will not mandate the vaccine.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said its keeping an eye on how a potential vaccine would interact with employers’ obligations under the ADA, the Civil Rights Act and other federal laws.

Cox Media Group