When the employer demands covid-19 vaccination certificate in order to be allowed to continue working, individual liberties are at stake. For example, the first amendment of the constitution bill of rights permits the citizens to participate in any religion of choice. If a given religion objects the vaccine on religious grounds, the employer who may demand the followers of such a religion to be vaccinated will be interfering with their civil liberties (Greely, T., 2020). The religious beliefs may trigger a bad relationship between the employer and the employee, and it may compel the employer to fire the employee. But, the employer may find himself in a court of law due to unfair dismissal and he may be forced to pay legal claims.
The moral rights of employee are violated when one is required to undergo covid-19 vaccination. The health information of an employee may give the employer a room to layoff the employee in the future if the test indicates other possible medical complications. This is because the employer may be unwilling to cater for the medical expenses that may be too huge in the future. Also, the employer may use the health information to discriminate the employee.
Although, there may be other cost implications, a utilitarian would recommend all staffs to be vaccinated. The argument would be that failure to vaccinate an employee would cause more harm to the many. Take a case of a healthcare worker, if he or she is not vaccinated the risk of spreading the virus to people is higher than an employee (Personnel Today, 2020) who is not exposed to the public. But, this depends with the number of people who have accepted vaccine. In a situation where the minority are for the vaccine, a utilitarian would not advocate for employees to be vaccinated. The number of people who accepts vaccine determines the utilitarian standpoint.
A Kantian would advocate for all people to either be vaccinated or not. No employee would be given an exemption. This perspective treats employees as equal and does not consider other factors. If the employer makes a vaccination a requirement, then all the employees must be vaccinated. Although, reason is used in this case, it may be against some individual liberties (Kansas State University, 2021). For example, using reason it is good to vaccinate employees to protect them from being infected or spreading the virus. But some employees may object it due to other factors like religious beliefs and medical complications, and Kantian point of view would discriminate them by forcing them to be vaccinated.
