PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Neshaminy Manor employees are being told they have to get the vaccine by a certain date or they'll lose their job, according to a letter sent by the nursing home's management earlier this month.
The letter talked about the level of COVID-19 vaccine participation among employees as being "unacceptable at a Long Term Care Facility." According to a county statement, about 46% of the staff received the first dose and 95% of residents did.
Tom Tosti, director of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) district council 88 said they were never told about the vaccine plan, even though they contacted the county before the holidays.
"There was no bargaining it in and I think this is a bargainable issue," he said, adding AFSCME employees at other nursing homes outside of Bucks County are being offered incentives.
Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis Marseglia said the county offered employees dozens of vaccine information sessions.
But Tosti suggested bringing in people from outside the county to educate staff about the vaccine and build trust. He said Marseglia hadn't answered his phone calls about the issue and so he entered a statement into the public comments section of the Commissioners meeting last week.
Tosti said the whole statement wasn't read due to time restraints. In part, it reads:
"Over the last year, we as a society have learned so much about this virus, and about slowing the spread. I understand that the Commissioners, and all of us, have had to make hard choices about how best to protect ourselves, our families and the public from this virus.
"But to have any hope of returning to something even close to normal, we have to work together. Before we say get vaccinated or get fired (or, as you like to call it, "laid off" but without unemployment compensation benefits), let's negotiate a better way of educating and encouraging staff to get vaccinated. Let's think creatively, instead of having the government injecting a vaccine that is only available under an emergency use authorization.
"Stop just demanding that the staff get vaccinated. Instead, work with us to do what is best for the residents and for the staff."
The next doses of the vaccine are expected to arrive at Neshaminy Manor the first week of February, then again at the end of February and on March 12.
More than 85 residents of Neshaminy Manor died of coronavirus since last March, about a third of the population there, Marseglia said.
"My mother is there (at Neshaminy Manor) and we have not had visits in person since last March, so all of those people who got it pretty much got it from staff ... inadvertently and accidentally bringing it in," she said.
Marseliga said if she knew employees would be reluctant to get the vaccine, she would have done things differently.
The county said they expect all employees at Neshaminy Manor to get vaccinated. "We must 'do no harm,' and the most effective way to prevent more cases of COVID in our facility is to have our employees vaccinated," they said in a statement.
"If COVID is now preventable we must do all we can to prevent it, and that includes inoculating staff ... Any staff that has not been vaccinated by the end of March could be laid off. Those claiming medical or religious exemptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis."
When asked if the vaccine would be mandated at any other Bucks County-run institution, Marsegiga said, "It is our understanding from our attorneys that we can't really mandate it anywhere in a health situation where there is hands-on care and the virus can truly kill someone."
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has given new guidance when it comes to coronavirus, one factor being the ability to mandate the vaccine at certain jobs.
"The EEOC has already found that coronavirus is more serious and meets what they call a direct threat standard which allows employers to conduct more extensive medical inquiries and controls than normal," explained Kent Petry, an attorney working out of Bucks County and Philadelphia.
Petry said legal safeguards for vaccines, like the Americans with Disabilities Act and Title VII, don't count when it comes to the pandemic.
"There are already things on the books giving advice and guidance from the EEOC and Supreme Court cases," he said, "that's going to allow employers to mandate this vaccine if they have a legitimate reason."