Sergei Tarasevich told Kommersant about the legal aspects of vaccinating employees against COVID-19

The requirement for organisations by the authorities to ensure that employees are vaccinated is mandatory in a number of cases. In Saint-Petersburg in particular, the list of industries obliged to immunise at least 80% of their staff is contained in a decree by the city’s Chief Sanitary Doctor, Natalia Bashketova. In practice, employers’ compliance with this requirement leads to the problem of recording employees with a medical leave of absence and verifying the reality of vaccination contraindications.

Sergei Tarasevich, Associate in Tax and Administrative Law practice at Maxima Legal, pointed out to “Kommersant” that although an employer does not have access to medical data of employees to check contraindications to vaccination, an employee is rather interested in providing documents confirming medical exemption.

Speaking about ways to motivate employees to vaccinate, the expert noted that “there are two legal ways for management to do so: carrot and stick. And while the carrot is incentives, the stick, according to Sergei, is the threat of suspension. “This method is applicable only to persons working on the basis of an employment contract or a civil law contract in organisations and individual entrepreneurs working in certain areas (catering, education, etc.)” – explained the specialist.

To read the full article (in Russian) please visit Kommersant website >>>