U.S. employees who don’t want to take the COVID-19 vaccine and who are thinking of waiting for their employers to fire them so they can collect unemployment benefits may have another think coming, according to employment law specialists who talked with MarketWatch.
While the benefits usually are a given if an employee is let go due to lack of work or some other unforeseeable event, if the employee is let go because they didn’t conform to company rules, they don’t qualify for unemployment benefits, the Dallas-based law firm said.
And, the firm said, “refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine, if your employer requires one, ‘is akin to an employee’s refusal to submit to permissible drug tests or participate in safety trainings.’”
Employees who quit on their own because of a vaccine requirement would have to qualify under a gray area of employment law, and they may or may not be eligible for benefits. The only thing that might play into the determination in favor of benefits is if the employee has a valid medical or other exemption to vaccines, MarketWatch added.
SOURCE: MarketWatch August 9, 2021