In a ruling, a Tel Aviv labor court on Sunday ruled that a school could prevent employees who are not vaccinated and who refuse to take regular COVID-19 tests from coming to work and determining the safety of children preference over the rights of staff.
The ruling comes in the case of a teaching assistant at a school in the city of Tzur Yigal in central Israel, who has appealed against the local council’s decision to demand that all teaching staff be vaccinated or that they have regular coronavirus tests. take as a condition to come. to work.
The court ruled that the teaching assistant, Sigal Avishai, will not work again and will not receive payment.
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Judge Meirav Kleiman ruled that in weighing Avishai’s right to privacy and personal autonomy against the right of students, parents and staff to avoid the risk of COVID-19, the balance is ‘typical’ in favor of the latter.
Illustrative – Israeli students at the Orot Etzion School in Efrat wear protective face masks as they return to school on May 3, 2020. (Gershon Elinon / Flash90)
Kleiman said her decision stems from ‘the existing information on the effectiveness of the vaccine in preventing infections, and after weighing up the obvious and immediate damage that could be inflicted on students – children with special needs who cannot meet the distance rules’ do not comply – and many third parties, including parents and school workers, if they become infected. ”
She said the employee’s COVID-19 tests were unpleasant, but that the damage was “relatively low”, as was the violation of her privacy by requiring her to disclose personal medical information.
“This is a welcome precedent that will have an impact on the entire economy,” said Naama Shabtay Bahar, a lawyer specializing in labor laws representing local councilor Kochav Ya’ir-Tzur Yigal.
“The labor court has found the right balance between workers’ rights and the interests of the general public,” she told the Globes business website. ‘Every employee has the right to be vaccinated or not. But every employee must also take responsibility for the decision. The responsibility should certainly not be placed on the employers, whose purpose is to protect their employees and the general public served by them. ”
An Israeli man receives a COVID-19 vaccine shot at a mobile Magen David Adom vaccination station at the Mahane Yehuda Market in Jerusalem on February 22, 2021. (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash90)
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court issued a temporary injunction banning the Ministry of Health from providing information to local authorities about those who did not receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The court also instructed state institutions and health care providers to explain why legislation allowing the ministry to do so has not been scrapped.
The controversial law, approved by the Knesset last month, authorizes the Ministry of Health to transfer data for three months to municipalities and the Ministry of Education. The legislation is intended to encourage those who are not vaccinated to be vaccinated and prohibits the use of the information for other purposes.
In their ruling, the judges cite the laws that guarantee a violation of the constitutional right to privacy in Israel’s quasi-constitutional basic laws.
Magen David Adom medical worker tests a man for the coronavirus in Jerusalem on March 18, 2021 (Olivier Fitoussi / Flash90)
Meanwhile, data from the Ministry of Health, published on Sunday morning, showed that more than 4.5 million Israelis have now both received the vaccine doses, while the country continues to conquer the world in vaccinations per capita.
The number of active cases – which occurred 80,000 just two months ago – was 18,309, of which 561 were in a serious condition, including 256 defined as critical.
The death toll has grown to 6,085.
Only 285 new cases were identified on Saturday with a positive rate of 1.7 percent – the lowest in almost four months – although test levels generally dropped significantly on weekends.
The basic reproduction number of the virus, which represents the average number of people infecting each virus carrier, dropped further to 0.62. Any number below 1 means that the outbreak is decreasing. The figure represents the situation as it was ten days ago.
