Can the employer ask employees to get vaccinated against Covid in order to have access to places of work and carrying out tasks, for example in the healthcare sector? Can he ask the doctor the list of names of vaccinated employees? Or can he ask the confirmation of the vaccination directly to employees?
The Italian Data Protection Authority have replied to these questions with the FAQ published on the website. The aim of the Authority is to offer some useful tips to companies, bodies and public administrations, in order to correctly applied the discipline on personal data protection in the current emergency situation, in order to prevent illicit personal data processing and avoid unnecessary managing costs or discriminatory effects.
Into these FAQ it is explained that the employer can not acquires, even not with the consent of the employee or the doctor, the full list of names of vaccinated employees or the copy of the vaccine certifications.
This is not permitted by the discipline of health and security protection in places of work neither by health emergency disposals. The consent of the employee can not be, in this case, a condition of lawfulness of personal data processing. The employer can acquire, in relation to the current legal framework, the only judgements of suitability for the specific task drawn up by the competent doctor.
The Italian Data Protection Authority has clarified that – while waiting for a national legislator act which eventually impose the vaccine anti-covid-19 which condition for the performance of specific professions, working activities and tasks – in cases of direct exposure to “biological agents” during work, as in the health context, the current provisions on ‘special protection measures’ provided for such work environments apply (Art. 279 of Legislative Decree n. 81/2008).
Also in these cases, the competent doctor, as a mediator between the health contest and the work contest, can process personal data related to employees vaccinations.
The employer must therefore limit himself to implementing, at organisational level, the measures indicated by the competent doctor in cases of partial or temporary unfitness.
SOURCE: FEDERPRIVACY