Labor Court hearing: Will teachers be required to get vaccinated?

The hearing takes place following an application for a restraining order filed by the special education assistant at the Kochav Yair-Tzur Yigal local council, after she was not allowed to enter the school because she was not vaccinated. She is not even willing to reveal her vaccine status.

The assistant, who refuses to be vaccinated, cried in the courtroom. “I think it’s my private matter whether I got vaccinated or not. I filled out a statement every day, knowing that if I did not feel well then I would stay home,” she said at the hearing. “In recent years I have not been sick to my delight. This situation is stressing me out. My fear is whether to decide to get tested or vaccinated. I love these children and take care of myself. I do not go to events or places I should not be. My whole thought is about My job that I love so much. ”

The judge at the hearing, Meirav Kleiman, asked the assistant: “Can you understand the concerns of the head of the council, the parents and the children?”. The assistant did not address the question and said: “I know there is an assistant who because of the pressure around – she was vaccinated. But I am afraid to be vaccinated.”

Advocate Chen Talmore, representing the aide, said at the hearing that “a legislative arrangement should be formulated, but the decision to evict the same worker and not put her to work is a decision that is like that of a sheriff in the Wild West, with no authority to accept it.” Of the ombudsman or of the government approving this. On the day the plaintiff was told she was not allowed to come to work, she was not told she would continue to receive her salary, and now only she finds out yes. Does the tribunal want to spend public money on anyone unwilling to get vaccinated? Paid is the stay. “

Judge Meirav Kleiman wondered: “How do you expect the council to keep the children and parents who can go into isolation or get sick? Some in risk groups and some in special education. We must treat this side equally.”

Advocate Talmore, for his part, claimed that the Ministry of Health website explicitly states that they do not know whether the vaccine prevents infection. “Regarding the corona test, the government also clearly stated that every employee should only submit an affidavit. In the gyms, too, the government ruled that workers would not be required to undergo a corona test – and so did the spokesman, he said. “First legislation is needed. If there is no such thing, then there is no reason for the worker to sit at home for ten days and not be allowed to enter the school.”

The judge said in response: “Our job is to balance the freedom of the assistant to choose and the choice of children and parents in life. The government can not open the school like that. What do you expect?”. The lawyer replied: “Mayors cannot take the law into their own hands, the decisions of the ombudsman and the government have weight. The test goes against the Basic Law of Human Dignity and Liberty and the fact that some employers decide that only those who have been vaccinated enter. “

Council Chairman Kochav Yair-Tzur Yigal, Yuval Arad, told Judge Kleiman that public confidence in the heads of local authorities has increased in the past year, following their conduct during the Corona crisis. “When the epidemic broke out, the heads of the authorities were the first to do epidemiological investigations, before the Ministry of Health did so. It is not for nothing that public confidence in the heads of the authorities soared this year – because we took responsibility,” Arad said. “The expectation from the heads of the authorities is that they will meet the needs of the individual. The parents and children look at the heads of the authorities and ask – ‘Please open the middle schools’, ‘Please make an effort to allow five days a week’ – all before the government decides.”

“We make decisions from morning to night for the benefit of the residents, and today – the eyes of the heads of the authorities are married to the courtroom of this court,” Arad continued. “I had no intention of harming, I had no desire to require a person to get vaccinated if he did not want to. All we demanded was that if an employee did not want to get vaccinated – he would be required to do a corona test frequently, every seven days.

“I think we made this decision proportionately and in a balanced way. This is a devoted fact, and there is no personal claim against it, but the emotional and mental damage of a child in special education who goes into isolation is enormous. I’m sure that was not her intention, “I think we should prioritize the right of students to life.”

The parents’ demand is based on the claim that kindergartens and classrooms were forced into isolation due to educational staff members who refused to be vaccinated – which also harms students and students, as well as parents who are forced to stay at home.

Updated data from the Ministry of Education show that 22,006 students and 2,887 teachers, kindergarten teachers and teachers are currently in solitary confinement. From October so far, about half a million students and teaching staff have been in isolation for various periods of time.

In just one week, 2,633 students and 369 teaching staff entered isolation in one day due to exposure to verified corona patients – and at the same time, 3,438 students and 637 teaching staff came out of isolation.

Ran Erez, chairman of the organization of post-primary teachers, told Ynet that according to an Internet survey he conducted – and admitted that he does not know how accurate it is – about 75% of teachers have been vaccinated, 15% want to be vaccinated and 10% refuse. “A teacher who has not been vaccinated will work from home,” and went against the initiative of Forum 15 “Independent Cities” to return seventh- through tenth-grade students to schools this coming Wednesday, contrary to the decision of the Corona Cabinet.

“Absolute irresponsibility,” he argued, “it is not possible that on the one hand mayors send inspectors to write reports to anyone who opens a store on his own – and here he requires teachers to break the law. This is a law, a government. We trust the Ministry of Health, the professors, all the health experts who say ‘no’, and then someone else comes and says ‘yes, I’m beeping’. “

The Ministry of Education stated: “The Ministry of Education attaches great importance to receiving vaccines, but will not oblige the teaching staff to get vaccinated. As long as there is legislation that applies to the entire population without differences and in an equal manner, the ministry will support it.”