LeasePlan first Dutch company to require Covid-19 vaccination

LeasePlan is the first company with a head office in the Netherlands to require employees to be vaccinated against Covid-19 if they want to come in to the office, Financieele Dagblad reports.

The car leasing company also said that all employees will return to the office after the coroanvirus pandemic. "The new normal is back to normal," the company said to FD. LeasePlan added that it will not actually check whether employees were vaccinated, relying on their honesty.

Trade union FNV is not happy with this plan, vice-chairman Kitty Jong said to the newspaper. Employers must never abuse their position of power by forcing employees to get vaccinated, she said. "The coronavirus vaccine is an important tool in the fight against corona, but it is not for them to decide on this."

Other experts also told FD that LeasePlan is on thin ice, legally speaking. It is prohibited to oblige employees to be vaccinated, and even if the company doesn't check, it is putting pressure on its employees to do so and may cause a crisis of conscience by assuming they'll be honest about it.

LeasePlan said it is aware that it is in a gray area here, but is not overly concerned. According to the company, its goal is to create a "sense of togetherness" by bringing everyone back to the office.

LeasePlan is the first Dutch company to require Covid-19 vaccination, but not first in the world. Google and Facebook both require vaccination for entering their offices. France also amended its law to require healthcare workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19.