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4 ¦ DECEMBER 7, 2020 NEWS

¦ From EMPLOYMENT on PAGE 1 But without the religious and
is passed through asymptomatic disability exceptions, University
individuals, that means decisions of Connecticut School of Law pro-
affect not only the employee, but fessor Sachin Pandya said Tuesday
also the employee’s family, friends “the options of those who don’t
and other contacts. It has the po- Employment experts want to take the vaccine are lim-
tential to affect 300 million people discuss scenarios that ited.”
in this country.” could play out in the
While Pirrotti and Pandya say
workplace if and when a employees who refuse to be vac-
COVID-19 vaccine becomes cinated and are doing so not on
Protections
Experts say employees stand on religious or disability grounds
very good legal ground if they re- readily available. face an uphill legal battle, Soltis

fuse a vaccine for religious reasons said some could make emotion-
or if they have a disability. Both al-distress or invasion-of-privacy
are protected in this state under claims. “The claims have to be cre-
the Connecticut Fair Employment ative,” Soltis said.
Practices Act. “One could argue that requiring someone to in-
Federally, the 1990 Americans with Disabilities ject a vaccine into their arm is invasive,” said Soltis,
Act protects those with disabilities and religious ex- who declined to venture a guess on how he thinks
clusions are protected under Title VII of the Civil such claims would be viewed in a court setting.
Rights Act of 1964. The ADA and Title VII are trig- Soltis said the Centers for Disease Control and
gered if there are 15 or more employees. Prevention should take a stand.
Employment attorney Nina Pirrotti said for those “The first step is for the CDC to say whether they
areas where religion and disability don’t come into recommend that employers require their employees
play, “these are uncharted waters, but I expect em- to be vaccinated. They haven’t done that yet,” Soltis
ployees to have an uphill battle” if they decide to said.
fight any vaccine mandates their bosses put on them. Soltis said the federal Equal Employment Oppor-
“The employee could be faced with the choice of tunity Commission could then “amend its guidance
adhering to the mandate or finding another job that to follow the CDC recommendations to allow em-
doesn’t have that requirement,” said Pirrotti of Gar- ployers to require employees to be vaccinated.”
rison, Levin-Epstein, Fitzgerald & Pirrotti in New While nothing in court is guaranteed, Soltis said
Haven. such an announcement from the CDC “would tell
While employees who don’t adhere to mandated judges and everyone else that this is the direction we
vaccines could file lawsuits against their employer, need to go to maximize safety in the workplace.” ¦
the same can be said for businesses that don’t require
vaccinations, Pirrotti said. Robert Storace covers legal trends, lawsuits and
“If a company doesn’t require a vaccine and some- analysis for the Connecticut Law Tribune. Follow
one gets sick and spreads it to fellow colleagues, that him on Twitter @RobertSCTLaw or reach him at
could also mean lawsuits,” Pirrotti said. 203-437-5950.

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