Now that we are hopefully closing in on the end of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, the team at Sober Living App are hearing rumblings from the sober living community about how to handle the vaccine roll-out in sober living homes.
In particular, we’ve been hearing questions like:
Can I require sober living home staff to provide proof of vaccination?
Can I require sober living home residents to get the vaccine?
Today we will look at what we know - and what we don’t know - about the answers to these questions.
Legal disclaimer: As we are veering into legal territory here, it is important to remind readers that we are software developers, not legal professionals. Please don’t mistake this information for legal advice and remember that you should absolutely seek council on how to handle COVID-19 vaccination at your sober living home with a qualified lawyer before acting on any of the information in this article.
Another disclaimer: Your location matters, too. City and state laws regarding disability rights, tenant-landlord law, vaccinations and sober living home vary depending on your location.
COVID-19 Vaccine Question #1: Can I Require My Sober Living Home Staff to Provide Proof of Vaccination?
This question is the easiest of the three to answer definitively.
The answer is yes, with some caveats.
Generally in the United States, employers are absolutely allowed to impose specific safety requirements as a condition of employment, including vaccinations against certain diseases, as long as those diseases pose a threat to the health and wellbeing of the workplace.
COVID-19 certainly qualifies here.
Unionized employees may be able to collectively negotiate around mandatory vaccinations, but that would be pretty rare in the sober living world.
Requiring proof of vaccination from sober living home staff shouldn't be a ADA violation as long as your request clearly states that employees are to share their proof of vaccination without sharing any other unnecessary personal health information (PHI). As long as you have employees black out any “extra” information when they share their vaccination record with you, you should be good to go.
Here’s the caveat: Just because you require a vaccination, it doesn’t mean every one of your employees will get a vaccination.
Employees can decline mandatory vaccinations on religious or philosophical grounds. They may also decline vaccinations on the basis of disability.
In these cases, an effort must be made for reasonable accommodation. If no reasonable accommodation can be made, the law generally supports the termination of employment.
Still, definitely check with your lawyer should you be dealing with a situation of this nature at your sober living home.
COVID-19 Vaccine Question #2: Can I Require My Sober Living Home Residents to Get the Vaccine?
This question is a lot more complicated.
If you speak with legal counsel regarding this issue, you’ll likely hear differing opinions.
As a landlord, you do have a responsibility to create and maintain a healthy living environment, but your tenants also have certain rights to privacy.
Schools and health care facilities have a long track record of requiring mandatory vaccines, so the legal precedent for making the COVID-19 vaccination mandatory in those settings is strong. Landlords in general and sober living home operators in particular simply don’t have as robust a history with the issue, so there is some legal uncertainty here.
In cases like this, the wording of your rental agreement and/or sober living home resident agreements will matter a great deal, as will the individual views of lawmakers and judges in your city, county or state should a legal dispute arise.
Tread cautiously.
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