On May 28, 2021, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated its guidance relating to employers' obligations and limitations in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic in the workplace. Most notably, the EEOC's newly revised guidance gave the go-ahead to employers seeking to incentivize COVID-19 vaccinations in the workplace.
In doing so, the EEOC clarified that offering vaccination incentives to employees who receive a vaccination on their own will not violate federal anti-discrimination laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Title II of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA), so long as the employees receive the vaccinations voluntarily and the employers maintain confidentiality of any employee vaccination records provided by their employees in conformance with the ADA. As such, an employer's request for documentation confirming that an employee received a COVID-19 vaccination is not a disability-related inquiry that would violate the ADA.
The EEOC's guidance clarifies that employers may provide employees and their family members with information to educate them about COVID-19 vaccines in an effort to raise awareness about the benefits of vaccination and can even administer vaccines to their employees.