Colorado Employers Can Require COVID Vaccine, With Few Exceptions

The unexpected and difficult pandemic has hit all of us and no one expected it as we began the year. But we have all learned to adapt to the new rules, regulations, and guidelines put into place. Now it seems like there is a COVID-19 vaccine that more and more people are talking about. But can your employer actually require you to get the vaccine to continue employment, in lots of cases here in Colorado that answer is yes.

We first got word of this information from CBS 4, while employers can require employees to be vaccinated there are also some exceptions to the rule.

To be clear, the reason Colorado-specific employers could require employees to get the vaccine is because we work in an "employment at will" state. Meaning employers can ask employees to do many things to retain employment but it's not unlimited.

There are three ways in which an employee could refuse the vaccine and be protected to keep their job which includes if the vaccine goes against religious beliefs or if it would put the employee at significant health risk. The other way the vaccine could be refused is if it goes against contract or union agreements.

If an employer decides to terminate an employee for refusing a vaccine, the employee could then sue for discrimination on the basis of religious or medical conditions.

This same battle could happen if an employer wanted to require all employees to get a flu shot.

After reading all of this, if your employer asked you to get the COVID-19 vaccine, would you get it?