Constitutional Court rules suspension from work for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID as legal

The Constitutional Court has recognized as justified the decisions by which employees were suspended from work due to their refusal to be vaccinated against CORONAVIRUS, Vedomosti reports.

At the end of January, the Constitutional Court issued a decision to dismiss complaints filed by Natalia Orlova, who worked in the social services sector, and Yevgeny Mokanets, who was an employee of a transport company. Both were suspended without pay in 2021. The plaintiffs challenged the provisions of the Labor Code and the laws "On Immunoprophylaxis of Infectious Diseases" and "On the Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare of the Population."

The court found that the employers' decisions were justified. The court pointed out that at the time the dispute began, regional regulations were in effect that required certain categories of workers to be vaccinated due to the threat of the spread of COVID. For example, in St. Petersburg , where Orlova lives, mandatory vaccinations had to be given to employees in the social services sector, as decided by the local office of Rospotrebnadzor. Similar measures were taken in Primorye, where Mokanets' complaint came from.

Vaccination against covid-19 is voluntary, in 2021 it was included in the calendar of preventive vaccinations for epidemiological indications. According to Article 51 of the Law "On the Sanitary and Epidemiological Welfare of the Population", vaccinations from this calendar must be done in the presence of reasoned decisions of the chief sanitary doctors in the event of a threat of the emergence and spread of dangerous infectious diseases.

In 2021, the Ministry of Labor also noted that an employee who has not been vaccinated can be suspended from work if the region has a decree from the HEAD of Rospotrebnadzor on mandatory vaccination . At the same time, the department drew attention to the fact that the Labor Code does not contain a provision on dismissal for refusing vaccination.

Dmitry Galantsev, managing partner of the law firm Propositum, told Vedomosti that courts considering such disputes at first instance, appeal and cassation usually side with employers.

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