Get answers about corona
Should a corona test be taken during free time if it is to be used in connection with physical attendance at the workplace? And can you be fired by your employer if you refuse to get vaccinated against COVID-19? Get answers and an overview here.
If you have physical attendance at the workplace, the employer or company can either encourage or directly demand that you be tested before attendance.
In that situation, it is Finansforbundet’s view that the employer cannot demand that the test be done during the employee’s free time and that the test can legitimately be done during working hours.
If the employer does not encourage or require a test in connection with physical attendance, the employee cannot demand that a test be done during working hours. When encouragement for a test is equated with a requirement for a test, this is because you as an employee are expected to follow whatever your employer encourages you to do. If it is not possible to implement a required test during the employee’s usual working hours, the employee must be financially compensated for the time spent on the test. The employee must also have any reasonable costs covered in connection with having a required test done.
If the employer does not encourage or require a test in connection with physical attendance, the employee cannot demand that a test be done during working hours.
Employment law matters and COVID-19 vaccinations
Right now and over the coming months, the COVID-19 vaccine will be rolled out across the country. This raises questions about employment law matters when employees will not let themselves be vaccinated. The following applies here:
In principle, an employer may not terminate an employee because they will not get vaccinated. However, there may be very special situations where the performance of the work is directly dependent on the employee being vaccinated against COVID-19. For example, this could be in situations where the work requires entry into a country that has a national requirement for vaccination upon entry. In such a situation, the employer must first try to reassign the employee to a position within the employee’s work area that is not dependent on a COVID-19 vaccine.
If this is not possible, the employer may eventually terminate the employee on the grounds that there is no work for the employee in the company.
The authorities recommend that pregnant and nursing women not be vaccinated. Therefore, the termination of a pregnant or nursing employee who cannot get vaccinated would be based on an unreasonable reason for dismissal.