Dismissal of unvaccinated worker who refused flu shot upheld

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The Fair Work Commission has backed the right of a business to sack an employee who refused to get a flu shot as required under a public health order.

The commission’s full bench majority upheld the dismissal of a receptionist at a NSW South Coast aged care facility who refused to get a flu vaccination shot.

In an earlier decision in April, Commissioner Donna McKenna found the worker’s dismissal by Sapphire Coast Community Aged Care in Bega was not unfair.

Commissioner McKenna rejected the worker’s unfair dismissal application on the basis that she did not provide evidence of an allergy she claimed had prevented her from getting vaccinated.

On Monday, a majority of the full bench upheld the original decision and dismissed the worker’s application to appeal.

“We do not intend, in the circumstances of the current pandemic, to give any encouragement to a spurious objection to a lawful workplace vaccination requirement,” the ruling said