On November 17, 2021, employment attorney and partner at The Noble Law Katie Abernethy was interviewed on WRAL News to discuss the meaning of a growing trend in online employment listings – a “no vaccine required” component. If you are facing an employment law matter, head to our consultation page to learn more about your options.
Gerald Owens, WRAL: If you search job postings on Indeed, you’ll find some companies advertising their open positions as a “no vaccine required” job. WRAL’s Leslie Moreno spoke to an attorney who says employers are having to get creative to fill some of their open positions.
Leslie Moreno, WRAL: Many employers are having to decide between a vaccine mandate or regular testing. Their decision will determine their pool of candidates.
Brian Kropp, Gartner Inc.: Companies think that by just testing and not requiring a vaccine mandate, they’ll be able to access all of those people in the labor market who don’t want to get vaccinated.
Leslie Moreno: Brian Kropp, a researcher for a consulting company, says about 25% of the workforce is not vaccinated.
Brian Kropp: There’s actually a lot of people out there who you could potentially tap into, from a labor market perspective, by not having a vaccine mandate.
Leslie Moreno: Some employers are adding “no vaccine required” to postings, including several healthcare postings in Charlotte and in Sanford at Prana Health. For example, these listings for a medical assistant and an allergy nurse.
Katie Abernethy, Partner at The Noble Law: My initial perception, I’ll be honest, my initial reaction was “Well that’s kind of ingenious.”
Leslie Moreno: I reached out to Prana Health. The marketing team told me the company did not post the listings and doesn’t know who did. The postings were removed shortly after my request for an interview.
Katie Abernethy: It could just indicate that somebody in their community relations department saw it and hadn’t seen it before and said “That’s not a message that we want out there.”
Leslie Moreno: Katie Abernethy with The Noble Law says people are having a difficult time finding jobs that don’t require a vaccine.
Katie Abernethy: I get calls from people who are very well-educated and very well-experienced, who are at high levels, who work for companies that are subject to the vaccine mandate and are just absolutely, positively opposed to getting the vaccine.
Leslie Moreno: Kropp says both companies and employees will have to be much more transparent about the requirements. So, we may start seeing more postings like this in the near future. Right now, the vaccine mandate from the Biden administration is still making its way through the courts. That uncertainty is another challenge both companies and employees have to overcome.