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Can Your Employer Demand a Flu Shot?

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has stated that an employer may require employees to get flu shots even though OSHA itself "does not specifically require employees to take the vaccines."

  1. Letter of Interpretation

    • OSHA made its statement in a letter of interpretation on November 9, 2009, but also added that anyone who refuses the vaccine because of "a reasonable belief that he or she has a medical condition that creates a real danger of serious illness or death may be protected" by the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970.

    Controversy Remains

    • Vaccination efforts conflict with concerns about individual rights. Even though hospital workers were among the first to be offered the H1N1 flu vaccine last year, not all hospitals required their employees to get it, according to Time.com.

    Protests

    • According to Time, com., nurses in Washington state opposed flu shot requirements, stating that the decision should be voluntary. New Yorkers protested their state's immunization requirement at the state capital. Fortunately, H1N1 infection rates in the United States remained low last season.

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