California County Requires Businesses to Submit Covid-19 Vaccination Status of All Employees

Businesses in Santa Clara County, California are required to submit vaccination status of all employees.

According to the county’s public health order, “All businesses and government entities must ascertain the vaccination status of personnel and must comply with the rules for personnel who are not fully vaccinated, as required under section 9(c) and 9(d) of the County Health Officer’s May 18, 2021 Order.”

Under the health order, the employee can decline to provide their vaccination status to their employer.

If the employee declines to offer the information, the employer “should assume the employee may be unvaccinated and follow State and local requirements for unvaccinated employees.”

In other words, if an employee refuses to get the vaccine or declines to disclose this private information to their employer, they will be treated like a second class citizen and will be forced to wear a face mask.

The employers are not required to provide the vaccine information to the County, but they are required to collect it and “have it available to demonstrate their compliance with this requirement” (struggle session).

The health order argues that HIPPA does not apply when an employer asks an employee for their vaccination status.

“No. HIPAA applies to certain entities, such as healthcare providers and health plans, and what protected health information they can share about their patients or members under what circumstances. HIPAA does not govern what information employers may request from their employees.” – the health order read.

It gets worse…

Employees are told to document and snitch on fellow co-workers if they won’t tell fellow colleagues whether they are vaccinated – then treat them like dirty virus bags and stay away from them.

“You must document that the worker declined to disclose his or her vaccination status, assume that they are not fully vaccinated, and follow all the rules that apply to workers who are not fully vaccinated.” the order said.

The deadline for determining the vaccination status of workers is June 1, 2021, however employers are instructed to harass employees who have declined to disclose their vaccination status every 14 days.

The employers must ask employees every 14 days what their vaccination status is so they can update their records.