The decision was made after an assistant at a school in the municipality filed a complaint to the court against the council’s policy to ban staff who didn’t undergo coronavirus tests every seven days or receive COVID vaccinations.
The court stressed that it is not requiring and was not asked to require the applicant to be vaccinated against her will. The court also agreed that the requirement to undergo a test against the applicant’s will did impact her fundamental right to bodily autonomy, however, the court stressed that the life and health of the students, their parents and the school’s staff wins out, as the “superiority and importance” of the rights to life and health are “undisputed.”
The court added that it did not agree with the claim that there was “no legal source” for the council’s requirement to care for the interests of the students, parents and staff or to require a coronavirus test, as the council, as the owner of the school, has the duty to ensure the safety of its employees and the students and their parents.
The decision stressed that the right to life is a “fundamental right of a higher level – the most fundamental right, on which all rights are based,” and that the fundamental right to dignity and privacy is on a lower level.
“This is a welcome precedent that will affect the entire education system and the entire Israeli economy,” said Naama Shabtay Bahar, the attorney representing the local council, in response to the decision. “The Labor Court very wisely struck the right balance between the rights of workers and the public good as a whole. Each employee may decide on his body and right to be vaccinated or not. But every employee must also bear responsibility for his decision. Of course, the responsibility should not be placed on employers, whose whole purpose is to protect their employees and the general public that comes to the gates of the workplace.”