The Epoch Times By
Health authorities in Santa Clara County, California, said that businesses are now required to determine the vaccination status of employees.
An announcement posted on the county’s website this week stipulated: “All businesses and government entities must ascertain the vaccination status of personnel and must comply with the rules for personnel who are not fully vaccinated, as required under” a recent county order.
The health order allows an employee to decline to hand over their COVID-19 vaccination status to their employer. If the employee declines to provide the information, the business “should assume the employee may be unvaccinated and follow State and local requirements for unvaccinated employees.”
The order raises obvious privacy questions.
A Bay Area-based lawyer, Sandy Rappaport of Hanson Bridgett, told the Mercury News that employers have to generally keep vaccination statuses of employees confidential, noting that the new order “seems to mandate that employers disclose employees’ vaccination status” because unvaccinated employees would have to wear masks at work.
“This order does go farther than what most employers have been doing, in that it requires employers to collect the information by either reviewing an employee’s vaccination card or having an employee complete a self-certification form, and the employer has to maintain records of what has been reviewed,” Rappaport told the paper, saying that if an employee refuses, their bosses have to—under the order—keep asking them their status every two weeks.
Some have questioned whether the order violates the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
“That would not prevent, in my opinion, an employer from asking their employees ‘Are you vaccinated?’” said Don Polden, a Santa Clara University law professor, according to NBC4. Polden then suggested that some businesses might fire unvaccinated employees due to the order.
But Santa Clara County officials, in the order, claimed that HIPAA does not apply in this case.
“No. HIPAA applies to certain entities, such as healthcare providers and health plans, and what protected health information they can share about their patients or members under what circumstances. HIPAA does not govern what information employers may request from their employees,” the order read.
The deadline for determining the vaccination status of a worker is June 1, 2021, according to the order. Employers are told to ask their employees to determine their vaccination status every two weeks and submit it to the county.
The Epoch Times has contacted Santa Clara County for additional comment.
COVID-19 is the illness caused by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) virus.
This violates ADA Law. I can’t wait for Orange County to try this. I will sue the ? out of them!