With the introduction of the vaccination obligation for workers over 50, an old question has resurfaced: who can ask if you are vaccinated? The employer or perhaps the colleague who works in the same room or office, why is he afraid of being infected? The answer involves privacy and employee protection profiles, explains laleggepertutti.it.
First of all, an employee is never required to answer colleagues on matters relating to his health. So whoever wants to know from a colleague if he has undergone the compulsory Covid-19 vaccination has no right to an answer. Rather, it is up to the employer to ensure health in the workplace (Article 2087 of the Italian Civil Code) and not to individual employees.
As far as the employer is concerned, in general the latter is not entitled to ask questions on the matter either, either at the time of the job interview or at a later stage. Rather, the company doctor is the person responsible for assessing the suitability of the worker for the job, and then communicates it to the employer: therefore the doctor himself can ask the employee for “health” information.
However, if you are in work environments for which a law requires anti-Covid vaccination, it is the employer’s responsibility to ensure that all its employees are vaccinated: in fact, article 2087 of the civil code (on the protection of of work) requires the employer to protect the psycho-physical health of employees. Therefore, in the case of categories of employees for which the compulsory vaccine has been provided, the request by the employer is completely legitimate. And this also applies to the job interview, before hiring: the employer or the staff member may well ask for a vaccination certificate if the candidate is included in the lists of subjects for which the vaccine is required.
In all other cases, both when hiring and subsequently during the execution of the employment relationship, the employer cannot acquire information on the state of health of employees that is not strictly related to the functions they perform. Among other things, the employer cannot even access, at a later time, the health and risk records present in the company database, a faculty that belongs solely to the competent doctor.
The Privacy Guarantor also clarified, in 2021, that the employer cannot under any circumstances ask employees, not even with the consent, or receive from the competent doctor, information on the vaccination status of an employee. But the clarification refers to a period in which the Covid vaccination obligation had not yet been approved. Therefore, the solution seems today the opposite in the light of the new legislative interventions.
In summary:
– a work colleague does not have the right to know if another employee is vaccinated or not, even if it is a subject for which compulsory vaccination is in force;
– the employer, on the other hand, has the right to have this information, both during the interview and subsequently, only when it is a subject for which the law provides for compulsory vaccination.