A ruling is made prohibiting teachers who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine from coming to school.
On Sunday, March 21, 2021, the Labor Court in Tel Aviv, Israel, ruled that school teachers and staff who refuse regular COVID-19 screenings or vaccinations can be barred from work, prioritizing the safety of children over workers' rights.
In precedent, court rules school can bar unvaccinated, untested worker | The Times of Israel
The local council of Truigar, Israel, has required all school workers to be vaccinated and tested for COVID-19. In response to this decision, Sigal Avishai, a teaching assistant at a school in the area, filed a lawsuit to overturn the council's decision so that she could continue working at schools even if she has not been vaccinated.
On March 21, the Labor Court ruled that Avishai could not return to work and would not receive any payment.
Judge Meirav Kleiman, who presided over the case, explained that when weighing the individual rights asserted by Avishai against the rights of students, parents, and school employees, the latter should take priority. He also ruled that some loss of privacy and individual autonomy is unavoidable in order to avoid the risk of contracting COVID-19.
While Avishai acknowledges that requiring employees to be tested for COVID-19 is 'somewhat uncomfortable,' he believes that disclosing personal medical information is a relatively minor 'invasion of privacy.'
Commenting on the ruling, Naama Shabtay Bahar, a lawyer specializing in employment law at the Tuluigar local council, said: 'This is a welcome precedent that will have an impact on the entire economy. The Labor Court struck the right balance between workers' rights and the interests of the general public. Every worker has the right to be vaccinated or not, but every worker must bear responsibility for that decision. All responsibility should not be placed on employers, whose goal is to protect both their workers and the general public they provide services to.'
In Israel, the law allows the Ministry of Health to share information about people who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine over a three-month period with local governments and the Ministry of Education. This law is intended to encourage unvaccinated people to get vaccinated, but prohibits the use of vaccination information for any other purpose.
However, in early March 2021, Israel's High Court issued a temporary injunction preventing the Ministry of Health from handing over information about people who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine to local authorities. In issuing the injunction, the court argued that it would 'harm the constitutional right to privacy' in Israel.
According to data released by the Israeli Ministry of Health, more than 4.5 million Israelis have received the COVID-19 vaccine, making the vaccination rate one of the highest in the world.
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