No employee in the Republic of Moldova can be dismissed from post for the refusal not to get vaccinated against COVID-19, ombudswoman for children’s rights Maia Bănărescu, who also holds the post of people’s ombudswoman on an interim basis, stated in a press release that is quoted by IPN.

The ombudswoman said the Republic of Moldova does not have a legal framework that would enable the employers to sack an employee for the refusal to get a vaccine. The conditions in which a salary earner can be dismissed are stipulated in Article 86 of the Labor Code and these do not include the refusal to get a vaccine.

The limitation of particular rights and freedoms can take place in particular conditions and in strict compliance with Article 54 of the Constitution. This way, for some of the public and private sectors or for particular categories of employees, the encouragement of vaccination can be mandatory, but only after issuing special normative documents by which immunization is made one of the conditions for relaxing restrictions at the workplace and for protecting public health. Otherwise, making the labor relations conditional on vaccination or testing is inopportune, discriminatory and in breach of the labor legislation.

Maia Bănărescu recommends the authorities from different state institutions to lay emphasis on the correct informing of the employees about the benefits of vaccination against COVID-19 without exerting pressure on them. She also calls on the population to get vaccinated, noting it is the responsibility of each citizen to contribute to ensuring public health security.