Hi,
There is a lot happening at the moment in relation to Vaccination Announcements and requirements which is creating substantial confusion for employees and employers. In Part 1, of this update we have tried to summarise the requirements for employees and employers as of today. Please note paragraph 1.1.3.6 which refers to “What if an employee refuses to be vaccinated”.
Also on Saturday 2nd October 2021, the Victorian Government announced the Victorian Business Costs Assistance Program Round Four - Construction Industry which provides grants to the eligible employers in construction industry whose businesses were shut down during the fortnight 21 September 2021 to 4 October 2021. We have covered the details of this grant at Part 2 of this email.
Please note that there is volumes of data around in relation to the above and we are only providing a guide so as to allow you to undertake your own actions.
PART 1: COVID-19 VACCINATIONS: WORKPLACE EMPLOYER & EMPLOYEE OBLIGATIONS
The key website to look at for information in regard to employee & employer requirements is as follows. Please note that the last update of this page was Saturday 9 October 2021.
https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/information-workers-required-be-vaccinated
The COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination directions issued by Professor Benjamin Cowie, Acting Chief Health Officer, pursuant to section 200(1)(d) of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic) is attached in the “PDF COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination (Workers) Directions 7 October to 21 October 2021”. These directions commence at 11:59:00pm on 7 October 2021 and end at 11:59:00pm on 21 October 2021 at which time we understand that new directions may be issued by the Chief Health Officer.
What is important to understand is that there is now a common requirement for all authorised workers who are not involved in the following:
We have set out the requirements for employees and employers in theses sectors below. The vaccination requirements of all other authorised workers and the employers obligations are covered at 1.1.0 to 1.1.3 below.
1.1.0 All Other Authorised Workers (as prescribed in the Authorised Worker List) – other than workers listed at 1.2 to 1.5:
You should be aware that the full authorised worker list is as summarised below for which definitions exist at the link mentioned above and is as follows: https://www.coronavirus.vic.gov.au/information-workers-required-be-vaccinated
Accommodation workers
Agriculture and forestry workers
Airport workers
Ancillary, support and welfare workers
Authorised officers
Care workers
Community workers
Creative arts workers
Custodial workers
Emergency service workers
Entertainment and function workers
Funeral workers
Higher education workers
Justice service centre workers
Marriage celebrants
Manufacturing workers
Meat and seafood processing workers
Media and film production workers
Mining workers
Physical recreation workers
Ports and freight workers
Professional sports, high-performance sports or racing person
Professional services workers
Public sector employees
Real estate workers
Religious workers
Repair and maintenance workers
Retail workers
Science and technology workers
Social and community service workers
Transport workers
Utilities and urban workers
Veterinary and pet/animal care workers
1.1.1 KEY DIRECTIVE:
From 15 October 2021, in order to work onsite at a work premises, you must be able to provide evidence to your employer that you have:
1.1.3 Employer Obligations
Under the COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination (Workers) Directions (attached to this email in pdf format), an employer must collect, record and hold vaccination (and/or booking) information of its employees. Please refer to Part 2 of the attached PDF COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination (Workers) Directions 7 October to 21 October 2021” if you want to understand the full obligations.
However, we have summarised the steps that need to be taken by the employer in order to comply with the public health directions.
1.1.3.1 Collect and hold Vaccine Information:
Employers of workers who are scheduled to work outside their home after 15 October 2021 have a duty to collect, record and hold vaccination information (or information regarding a booking to receive a vaccine). If the employer collects information that a worker is partially vaccinated, the employer must also collect, record and hold information about whether that worker has a booking to receive, by the second dose deadline, a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine that will cause the worker to become fully vaccinated.
Note: Vaccination information may be recorded in a variety of documents, such as a letter from a medical practitioner, a certificate of immunisation or an immunisation history statement obtained from the Australian Immunisation Register.
1.1.3.2 Inform Workers of Obligation to Collect
Employers have a duty to inform relevant workers of the obligation to collect, record and hold vaccine information, and that workers will not be permitted to work outside their ordinary place of residence from 15 October 2021.
We have provided a letter template that you can use to complete this step of the process “ACS Template Letter to Employee for Evidence of Vaccination 11 October 2021”.
It is important that this document (or something similar) is maintained by you as the employer (please refer to Penalties at 1.3.5 below). For the purpose of the Directions, when an employer does not hold vaccine information about a worker it must treat the worker as unvaccinated.
1.1.3.3 Obligation to ensure unvaccinated workers do not work outside Ordinary Place of Residence
Employers must take all reasonable steps to ensure that unvaccinated workers do not work outside their ordinary place of residence unless they have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, or have a booking to receive a first dose by 22 October 2021.
A small exemption is available where an employer may, after the first dose deadline (22 October 2021), permit a worker who is unvaccinated, and was unable to become partially vaccinated before the first dose deadline because they were in self quarantine, and has a booking to receive within 7 days of the end of the period of self-quarantine a dose of a COVID-19 vaccine that will cause the worker to become partially vaccinated, to work for that employer outside of the workers ordinary place of residence.
1.1.3.4 Disclosure to Authorised Officers
An Authorised Officer (which has the same meaning as in the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008) may request an employer to produce to the Authorised Officer any vaccination information held by the employer. If an Authorised Officer makes a request the person must comply with the request. An authorised officer" means a person appointed—
(a) by a Council to be an environmental health officer under section 29; or
(b) by the Secretary to be an authorised officer under section 30; or
(c) subject to section 31, by a Council under section 224(1) of the Local Government Act 1989 to be an authorised officer for the purposes of this Act.
1.1.3.5 Penalties
Failure to comply with these directions can lead to a penalty of AU$21,808.80 for individuals (120 penalty units), and AU$109,044 for body corporates (600 penalty units).
There is also a penalty of AU$10,904.40 for individuals (60 penalty units), and AU$54,522 for body corporates (300 penalty units) for providing false or misleading information.
1.1.3.6 What if an employee refuses to be vaccinated
An employer may be able to take disciplinary action, including termination of employment, against an employee for refusing to be vaccinated if the employee’s refusal is in breach of:
Pease refer to the following website in relation to some of the matters set out in this section.
Before taking any action, an employer should talk to the employee and discuss the employee’s reasons for not wanting to get vaccinated. For example, the employee may have a medical condition (which may be phycological) that means vaccination is not recommended for the employee. Whether an employer can take disciplinary action will depend on the individual facts and circumstances. To work out if and how an employer can take disciplinary action, employers should consider the terms, obligations and rights under any applicable:
If an employee refuses a direction to be vaccinated, it’s unlikely that their employer can stand down the employee. Stand down is only available in certain circumstances. Learn more about standing down employees at Stand downs. Further, employers generally don’t have the power to suspend employees without pay unless an enterprise or other registered agreement, award or employment contract allows them to. Employees have various protections against being dismissed or treated adversely in their employment. Employers should make sure that they follow a fair process and have a valid reason for termination, or they may breach unfair dismissal or adverse action laws under the Fair Work Act.Employers should also consider getting legal advice in these situations.Find more information see: Managing performance and warnings Ending employment and redundancy.
AUTHORISED WORKERS AT SPECIFIC SITES
It is important to note that there are other rules for authorised workers at the following sites:
1.2 Residential Aged Care:
Currently in order to work at a residential aged care facility, you must be able to provide evidence to your employer that you:
1.3 Construction Sites:
Currently in order to work at a residential aged care facility, you must be able to provide evidence to your employer that you:
A construction worker is a person who attends a construction site. Examples include:
1.4 Healthcare:
From 15 October 2021, in order to work in a healthcare setting, you must be able to provide evidence to your employer that you:
1.5 School, Childcare and Early Education Services:
From 18 October 2021, in order to work at a school, childcare (including outside school hours care services) or early education service, you must be able to provide evidence to your employer that you:
2.0 VICTORIAN BUSINESS COSTS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM ROUND FOUR - CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY (ANNOUNCED SATURDAY 2ND OCTOBER 2021)
As you are aware the construction sector was shut down on the 21 September 2021 for a two-week period ending 4 October 2021. As a result of the two-week shutdown the Victorian Government is providing one-off grants (Business Costs Assistance Program Round Four) for eligible constructions businesses, including both employing and non-employing businesses whom have been impacted in the local government areas Metropolitan Melbourne, The City of Greater, Mitchell Shire & Surf Coast Shire.
What Grant Amounts are Available:
2.1 Applications are currently indicated to open on Friday 29 October 2021 until program funds are exhausted.
There is currently no active link to apply for the grant, but we expect that this will become available through this page https://business.vic.gov.au/grants-and-programs/business-costs-assistance-program-grants-and-top-up-payments/business-costs-assistance-program-round-four-construction
2.2 Am I Eligible?
2.3 What ANZIC Codes are Eligible?
The eligible businesses for the Business Costs Assistance Program Round Four – Construction grant must have the following ANZIC codes:
Download COVID-19 Mandatory Vaccination (Workers) Directions 7 October to 21 October 2021
Download ACS Template Letter to Employee for Evidence of Vaccination 11 October 2021
If you think that you may be eligible for this grant please get in touch with the ACS Team and we can assist you through the process.
Have a great week from all of us at ACS and keep the chin up! The end is near!
Regards
Alan Yildiz