Employers cannot manage quarantines blindly – Malta Chamber of Commerce

by Gozo News · January 8, 2022

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has said that it it is ”imperative that employers have the right to request vaccine certificates from their employees as proof of their status.”

This follows the latest announcement on quarantine letters which oblige employers to be aware of their employees’ vaccination status, the Chamber said.

In a statement on Saturday, the Chamber highlighted that public health authorities announced that a quarantine release letter will no longer be issued, and a positive Covid test result will include a quarantine order for the whole household.

It pointed out that under current rules, the duration of quarantine for every household member is dependent on the vaccination status of the positive person and one’s own vaccination status in the case of household contacts.

The Chamber stressed that ”it is not possible for employers to be able to deduce the length of quarantine of an employee unless employers were to (i) be forwarded a with a positive test result of persons who may not be within their employ; (ii) be aware of the vaccination status of their employees; (iii) be aware of the vaccination status of the household member who is positive.”

The Malta Chamber said that that ”whilst it would be unethical to request details on the status of household members of employees, employers should have the right to request information about the vaccination status of the employees.”

The Chamber added that it has long been calling for employers to have the right to request information about the vaccination status of the employees. For the employer this is relevant information in a broader health and safety context.

The Chamber appealed to authorities to ”adopt this pragmatic approach of limiting the duration of quarantine solely to the status of the individual employer, as otherwise it will be impossible for employers to contain abuse.”

The Chamber concluded by once again appealing for the public health authorities to consider how other countries are steadily reducing quarantine periods, and the extent to which this can be replicated in Malta, particularly given the high rate of uptake of the booster.