Right of individual employees to choose not to be vaccinated has to be balanced against the rights of others who may share space with that person – Law Society President

Right of individual employees to choose not to be vaccinated has to be balanced against the rights of others who may share space with that person – Law Society President

By Vijay Narayan
11/06/2021
President of the Fiji Law Society, Wylie Clarke.

The President of the Fiji Law Society, Wylie Clarke says the right of individual employees to choose not to be vaccinated has to be balanced against the rights of others who may share space with that person and the legal obligations of the employer.

While responding to questions regarding employers terminating workers who do not get the COVID-19 vaccine, Clarke says there are a number of legal issues that this situation highlights about tensions that can arise between an individual’s exercise of human rights and another’s legal obligations that exist independently of those rights.

Clarke says employers must ensure that they carefully follow their legal obligations and act in accordance with the Employment Relations Act.

He says everyone has a right to decide whether to get vaccinated or not - that is a matter of personal choice.

The Law Society President says employers, on the other hand, have a number of legal obligations to consider that are not necessarily compatible with that personal choice.

Clarke says employers do not have a right to choose which of their legal obligations to comply with.

He says for example, employers have a legal duty to protect the health, safety and wellbeing of all their employees while they are at work.

Clarke says bearing in mind that Fiji is in the midst of a public health emergency as a result of COVID-19, a highly infectious virus, a material factor that would have to be considered is the adoption of protocols and policies that meet the requirements of that duty in the current environment.

He says employers also have to consider their potential liability to employees and their families in the event an employee contracts COVID while at work and dies or is permanently, or temporarily, incapacitated.

Clarke also says while the public health emergency in Fiji remains, it will be difficult for employers to reconcile their legal duties and obligations with the exercise of an individual employees right not to be vaccinated and present a potential threat to the wellbeing, health and safety of fellow workers and the workplace.

FEATURE NEWS
Ratu Tevita Mara says being a leader is to uplift people’s lives
Being a leader is to uplift people’s lives. That is the comment from the newly installed Tui Lau, Sau Ni Vanua O Lau and Tui Nayau, Ratu Tevita M...
14 hours ago
LATEST NEWS
Police special constable charged with assault
A Special Constable has been charged with one count of Assault Causing Actual Bodily Harm after he allegedly assaulted a man in Suva last ...
13 hours ago

Fijians to benefit from faster First Home Initiative Grant processing with new digital portal
In a major step to improve housing services, the Ministry of Housing has launched Fiji’s first digital portal for the First Home Ownership ...
13 hours ago

Evangeline Kumar – from walking the tightrope to now doing solo hair hang act during VOU Fijian Flying Circus
The VOU Fijian Flying Circus now underway in Suva is not only dazzling crowds with flips, drama, juggling, the Fijian village clown and Fijian flair, ...
14 hours ago

China donates $100,000 worth of aid to Lau following Tui Nayau installation
Following the installation of the Tui Nayau, Sau ni Vanua o Lau, na Tui Lau, Ratu Tevita Uluilakeba Mara, the Ambassador of China to Fiji, Zhou Jian, ...
15 hours ago

Charge against Bainimarama amended in sacked Police officers case
The charge against former Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama, in the case where he is charged alongside former Police Commissioner Sitiveni Qiliho for ...
15 hours ago



fijivillage Straight Talk with Vijay Narayan
Latest Videos

Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations

CFL radio frequencies
IN DEPTH
Professor Prasad on fijivillage Straight Talk With Vijay Narayan
The show will focus on the 2025/2026 National Budget.
2 days ago

Tui Nayau and Tui Lau Installation
The ceremony for the installation of the Tui Nayau Sau ni Vanua o Lau will be held tomorrow, while the installation ceremony of the Tui Lau will be held in Tubou on Thursday.
4 days ago

CFL 40th Birthday
CFL’s 40th Anniversary celebrations to culminate with free concert at Albert Park on ...
7 days ago

TOP