Are you vaccinated against Covid?

With the introduction of mandatory vaccination for workers over 50, an old question has resurfaced: who can ask if you are vaccinated? 

The employer or perhaps the colleague who works in the same room or office, because he is afraid of being infected? 

The answer involves aspects of privacy and protection of the employee, he explains laleggepertutti.it.

"First of all, an employee is never required to respond to colleagues on topics concerning his health. 

So anyone who wants to know from a colleague whether he has undergone the mandatory Covid-19 vaccination is not entitled to an answer. 

Rather, it is up to the employer to guarantee health in the workplace (art. 2087 civil code) and not to individual employees.

As far as the employer is concerned, generally speaking, not even the latter has the right to ask questions on the matter, neither at the time of the job interview nor at a subsequent stage. 

Rather, the company doctor is the person responsible for assessing the worker's suitability for the job, and then communicating it to the employer: therefore the doctor himself will be able to ask the employee for "health" information.

If, however, one finds oneself in work environments for which a law requires anti-Covid vaccination, it is the employer's responsibility to ensure that all his employees are vaccinated: in fact, article 2087 of the civil code (on the protection of conditions of work) requires the employer to protect the psycho-physical health of employees. 

Therefore, when it comes to categories of employees for whom the mandatory vaccine has been provided for, the employer's request is completely legitimate. 

And this also applies during the job interview, before hiring: the employer or staff member may well ask for a vaccination certificate if the candidate is included in the lists of subjects for whom the vaccine is required.

In all other cases, both at the time of hiring and subsequently during the continuation of the employment relationship, the employer cannot acquire information on the state of health of employees that is not strictly relevant to the functions performed by them. 

Among other things, the employer cannot even access, at a later time, the health and risk records present in the company database, a faculty which lies solely with the competent doctor.

The Privacy Guarantor also clarified, in 2021, that the employer cannot under any circumstances ask employees, not even with consent, or receive from the competent doctor, information on the vaccination status of one of their employees. 

But the clarification refers to a period in which the mandatory Covid vaccination had not yet been approved. 

Therefore, the solution seems opposite today in light of the new legislative interventions.

In summary:

– a work colleague has no right to know whether another employee is vaccinated or not, not even if it is a person for whom mandatory vaccination is in force;

– the employer, however, has the right to have this information, both during the interview and subsequently, only when it concerns a person for whom the law provides for compulsory vaccination"

source https://www.adnkronos.com/sei-vaccinato-chi-lo-puo-chiedere_1mIrcaxH6QWjvPLPEvqdRL

However, the fact remains that there is the rule of coexistence and mutual respect, and therefore of law, which must be exercised by all actors.

An access regulation facilitates the employer from the obligation to protect his employees, determines who can and cannot access the workplace, and what the rules of engagement are.

This too, regardless of the aforementioned art. 2087 of the civil code, it is called civic education.