AB 247

This bill prohibits any employer, including the state and local governments,

from demoting, suspending, discharging, or otherwise discriminating against an

employee or contractor for refusing to be vaccinated against seasonal influenza. An

employee, under the bill, includes any intern and any volunteer. The bill also

prohibits any employer from doing any of the following: refusing to hire a prospective

employee or renew the contract of an employee or contractor on the basis of

vaccination status for seasonal influenza or refusal to be vaccinated against seasonal

influenza; requiring any employee or contractor to receive a vaccination against

seasonal influenza if the employee or contractor declines in writing after receiving

certain information; requiring unvaccinated employees or contractors to wear masks

in retaliation for refusing the influenza vaccination; or requiring employees or

contractors in a health care setting to wear masks in a manner that exceeds a certain

requirement. If the employer requests that any of its employees or contractors be

vaccinated against seasonal influenza, that employer must provide, or arrange for,

the vaccination at no cost to those employees or contractors.

Under the bill, an employer that requests employees or contractors to be

vaccinated against seasonal influenza must provide, in writing, a statement of the

risks and benefits to an individual of receiving that vaccine and a statement that the

employee or contractor has the right to refuse the seasonal influenza vaccine for any

reason without risk of discrimination for that refusal. The employer must provide

the employee or contractor a reasonable time to review these statements before

providing or arranging for seasonal influenza vaccination. An employee or

contractor who has received these statements may decline the vaccination, in

writing, for any reason and the employer may not require that employee or

contractor to receive the vaccination. An employer may provide the vaccine

information statements about the applicable form of seasonal influenza vaccine that

is created by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and this

satisfies the requirement to provide the statements.

Under the bill, an employer is allowed to request or require an employee, or

contractor, who is showing symptoms of seasonal influenza to leave the place of

employment while ill.