EEOC: Employer May Offer Incentives to Employees to Get COVID Vaccinations

On May 28, 2021, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) updated and expanded its technical assistance related to the COVID-19 pandemic. The EEOC answers COVID-19 questions from the perspective of the federal EEO laws and in its update, addresses the situation where an employer offers incentives to its employees to get a vaccine. The EEOC opines that the federal anti-discrimination laws do not prevent or limit employers from offering incentives to employees to voluntarily provide documentation or other confirmation of a vaccination obtained from a third party, and employers may offer incentives for employees to be vaccinated as long as such incentives are not coercive. (See Questions K-1 through K-21 at the EEOC’s resource, “What You Should Know About COVID-19 and the ADA, the Rehabilitation Act, and Other EEO Laws.”)