Health Minister spearheading vaccination efforts
In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), employers' ability to inquire about employees' COVID-19 vaccination status is limited by data protection laws and the legal framework around occupational safety. This approach aims to balance infection prevention with individual rights.
The general legal environment follows German federal regulations and European data protection principles (GDPR), which protect sensitive health data such as vaccination status. Employers can only collect such information if it is legally justified, necessary, and proportionate.
Employers may inquire about vaccination status only under specific legal mandates or where justified by occupational safety regulations to prevent infection risks, particularly in high-risk settings like healthcare. For example, a partial vaccine mandate was introduced in March 2022 for health workers, but broad mandates were rejected.
For other sectors, there is no general legal obligation or right for employers to ask about vaccination status, and doing so without a clear legal basis may violate privacy and data protection rights. Pressure or punitive measures against unvaccinated employees are problematic since they could conflict with anti-discrimination rules and data protection laws; unvaccinated employees are protected against unlawful discrimination and coercion.
The courts in NRW have recently emphasized clarity and legality in related government advice and measures, underscoring that unclear or unjustified mandates or policies risk being overturned.
As a result, employers in NRW must carefully navigate data protection requirements when approaching vaccination status inquiries and focus on lawful infection control measures rather than exerting pressure on unvaccinated employees. Any collection and processing of vaccination data must align with the GDPR and national occupational safety laws, ensuring employees' rights are respected.
Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU) previously proposed a similar amendment to the law for the next six months. However, North Rhine-Westphalia's Minister of Labour and Health, Karl-Josef Laumann (CDU), supports employers asking about their employees' vaccination status, but he also acknowledges that the proposed amendment raises questions about employee data protection. Some supporters of the proposal also want it to increase pressure on those unwilling to be vaccinated, while critics argue that such a measure would do the opposite. Nonetheless, no current broad legislation allows an unrestricted inquiry into employees’ vaccination status outside healthcare or similarly regulated sectors, and data protection remains a significant limiting factor to such inquiries.
References: [1] "COVID-19: Arbeitgeber dürfen Angaben zu Impfstatus von Mitarbeitern nur eingeholen, wenn es rechtlich gerechtfertigt ist" (COVID-19: Employers may only collect information about employees' vaccination status if it is legally justified), Spiegel Online, 2021.
- In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), the approach in combatting COVID-19 in the workplace leans towards balancing infection prevention with individual rights, following German federal regulations and European data protection principles (GDPR).
- The legal framework around occupational safety and health-and-wellness in NRW restricts employers from inquiring about employees' COVID-19 vaccination status without a legitimate, necessary, and proportionate reason, such as in high-risk settings like healthcare.
- Policy-and-legislation discussions about broad vaccine mandates, including those proposed by Federal Health Minister Jens Spahn (CDU), raise questions about employee data protection and mental-health concerns, as it could lead to unlawful discrimination and coercion.
- Mental-health, data protection, and general-news outlets continue to monitor the ongoing debate surrounding employers inquiring about employees' vaccination status outside healthcare or similarly regulated sectors, with advocates seeing it as a means to increase pressure on the unvaccinated, while critics argue it would worsen the situation.
