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Originally Posted by ramonesfreak
giving a bonus, as nominal as it may be, based on healthcare choices? this smells very different than say, giving memberships to a gym to any employee that is interested. i don’t play a lawyer on tv because i am one. and though i’m no expert on this, my instincts tell me you might be accused of breaking the law....appearing to break some law so that an employee sues you costing you a ton of money and time and stress defending yourself
whether you actually are breaking the law is i think, very complicated and would depend on many facts unknown to me
i took a quick look here (below link) and what would concern me is that a person who decides not to be vaccinated could be making that decision based on a medical condition or a religious belief and therefore might be motivated to claim you are discriminating against them based on their disability or religious belief by rewarding others who were able to get the vaccine.....but again, this is a complex fact based analysis and the sort of thing that ultimately works itself out in court when you risk doing what you are suggesting... personally i would try to avoid that
anyway, here’s some good reading that while not exactly on point, is worth being familiar with as a business owner (vaccinations is near the bottom- but all of it is pretty useful info)
https://www.eeoc.gov/wysk/what-you-should-know-about-covid-19-and-ada-rehabilitation-act-and-other-eeo-laws |
Being in insurance specifically commercial insurance I would have to agree with Ramonesfreak here. This is a slippery slope.
Not sure there is a law that would be broken by giving out gift cards to those that vaccinated, but from an employment practices stand point the appearance of discrimination and singling this person out by management could be troublesome.
I don't know California law but I am in NJ, we are bad and I think CA is worse when it comes to tort. Sadly there are plenty of low life attorney's that would take a case with little to no evidence but, knowing their is a checkbook that can be accessed. It costs very little to file a suit and in most cases their is no recourse against the filer for filing a weak or even fraudulent suit. Losing the suit isn't the costly part defending against the suit is the costly part and if you don't have employment practices liability the company pays those costs out of pocket.
I am sure a company of your size has an HR department, employee handbook, written policy and bonus and incentive procedures? Make sure you familiarize yourself with those rules and procedures and follow them to the T before doing anything. Guaranteed the first thing that will occur is they will subpoena a copy of those rules and procedures and look for how you deviated from YOUR rules to the detriment and embarrassment of this person.
You may also wish to amend your rules/ procedures to include a Covid, pandemic, etc. section and if you have not yet done so contact a good employment practices attorney to review your rules/procedures to ensure you are in compliance with CA employment law.