Can you be sacked for getting vaccinated? This church says yes

The Church of Ubuntu describes itself as a “non-dualistic all embracing multi-faith philosophy and way of life”.

“We focus,” the church promises, “on total holistic health and well-being, using natural plant-based healing methods.” Naturally, the background of its website is a picture of a gleaming sky through a leafy forest canopy.

The church and “wellness centre” attached is at the centre of another employment dispute around vaccination, and it’s a doozy.

There have been several cases testing whether an employee can be sacked for refusing to be vaccinated. Now a Byron Bay woman is arguing in the Fair Work Commission that she was sacked because she did get the vaccine.

According to the commission’s summary of the case, Ubuntu’s beliefs “include that receiving a COVID-19 ‘inoculation’ is contrary to God’s teachings and the appellant indicated they will not hire anyone as a contractor or volunteer who has received an injection of any of the current or future planned injections purported to protect against the COVID-19 virus”. 

We are not at the stage where an employer’s right to do this is being tested — at this point the case has been delayed by Ubuntu arguing that the woman is a contractor, not an employee, and therefore without recourse to unfair dismissal — a pretty conventional workplace response to an unfair dismissal claim.

Fair Work deputy president Ingrid Asbury found in November that the woman was an employee, and on Monday the commission denied the church’s ability to appeal.

It’s not quite a blanket rule that employers — apart from certain industries — can require their employees to be vaccinated. Individual workers have won unfair dismissal cases against employers that sacked them for failing to get vaccinated based on unfair processes. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this one.