In a historic ruling, a Tel Aviv labor court ruled on Sunday that a school could prevent unvaccinated employees who refuse to take regular COVID-19 tests from coming to work, ruling that children’s safety takes precedence over employee rights.
The decision came in the case of an assistant teacher at a school in the city of Tzur Yigal, in central Israel, who appealed the local council’s decision to require all education staff to be vaccinated or to have regular coronavirus tests as a condition of coming . to work.
The court ruled that the teaching assistant, Sigal Avishai, will not return to work and will not receive payment.
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Judge Meirav Kleiman ruled that by weighing Avishai’s right to privacy and personal autonomy against the right of students, parents and employees to avoid the risk of obtaining COVID-19, the balance “tilts clearly” in favor of the latter.
Illustrative – Israeli students at the Orot Etzion school in Efrat wear protective masks when they return to school on May 3, 2020. (Gershon Elinon / Flash90)
Kleiman said his decision resulted “from existing information about the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing infections, and after weighing up the obvious and immediate damage that could be done to students – children with special needs who cannot comply with the distance rules – and many third parties, including parents and school staff, if they become infected. ”
She said that while demanding the employee’s COVID-19 tests was unpleasant, the damage caused is “relatively low”, as well as the breach of his privacy by having to disclose personal medical information.
“This is a welcome precedent that will affect the entire economy,” commented Naama Shabtay Bahar, a lawyer specializing in labor laws who represented the Local Council of Kochav Ya’ir-Tzur Yigal.
“Labor justice has found the right balance between workers’ rights and the interest of the general public,” she told the business news site Globes. “Every employee has the right to vaccinate or not. But each employee must also take responsibility for that decision. Definitely, the responsibility should not lie with employers, whose aim is to protect their employees and the general public served by them. ”
An Israeli man receives a COVID-19 vaccine at a Magen David Adom mobile vaccination station at the Mahane Yehuda market in Jerusalem on February 22, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash90)
Earlier this month, the High Court issued a temporary injunction preventing the Ministry of Health from delivering information to local authorities on those who have not received the COVID-19 vaccine. The court also instructed state agencies and health care providers to explain why legislation that allows the ministry to do this has not been dropped.
The controversial law, passed last month by the Knesset, authorizes the Ministry of Health to pass the data on to municipalities and the Ministry of Education for a period of three months. The legislation aims to encourage non-vaccinated people to be immunized and prohibits the use of information for other purposes.
In their decision, the judges cited laws that “undermine the constitutional right to privacy” guaranteed in Israel’s quasi-constitutional Basic Laws.
Medical worker Magen David Adom tests a man for the coronavirus in Jerusalem on March 18, 2021 (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash90)
Meanwhile, data from the Ministry of Health published on Sunday morning showed that more than 4.5 million Israelis have already received both doses of the vaccine, with the country continuing to lead the world in vaccines per capita.
The number of active cases – which exceeded 80,000 just two months ago – stood at 18,309, of which 561 were in serious condition, including 256 defined as critical.
The death toll rose to 6,085.
Only 285 new cases were identified on Saturday, with a positive rate of 1.7 percent – the lowest in almost four months – although test levels generally drop significantly during weekends.
The basic number of reproduction of the virus, representing the average number of people infected by each carrier of the virus, fell further to 0.62. Any number below 1 means that the outbreak is decreasing. The figure represents the situation 10 days ago.
