Client FAQs

Can we mandate that clients get vaccinated to protect our workers?

You can’t mandate client vaccination. You must think about the processes and activities that you’ll need to do to manage the risk of unvaccinated clients in your COVID-19 management plan.

You would have considered strategies to manage this risk when you completed your NSW Government COVID-19 Safety Plan to become a COVID Safe business.

You can encourage and support clients to get vaccinated. Most people in Australia are used to getting vaccines from childhood, and understand the importance of vaccinations to protect our most vulnerable Australians. We also recognises that everyone’s circumstances are different, and people should always discuss their situation with a healthcare professional.

Do we have to provide services to unvaccinated clients?

You must think about the processes and activities that you’ll need to do to manage the risk of unvaccinated clients in your COVID-19 management plan.

You would have considered strategies to manage this risk when you completed your COVID-19 Safety Plan to become a COVID Safe business.

You provide services to some of the most vulnerable people in our community. DCJ expects that service delivery will continue and that the risks of unvaccinated clients can be managed by putting appropriate control measures in place. For example, this may include:

• physical distancing
• modifying service sites to create adequate space and ventilation
• finding alternatives to face to face delivery where practical
• use of personal protective equipment and other controls to reduce exposure.

You can encourage and support clients to get vaccinated. Most people in Australia are used to getting vaccines from childhood, and understand the importance of vaccinations to protect our most vulnerable Australians. We also recognises that everyone’s circumstances are different, and people should always discuss their situation with a healthcare professional.

What about working with children under 5 who can’t get vaccinated?

Other than the rules for attending higher risk premises such as entertainment facilities, major recreation facilities and hospitality venues, there are no restrictions on children under 16 years who are unvaccinated.

You must think about the processes that you’ll need to have in place to manage the risk of unvaccinated clients, including children, as part of your COVID-19 risk assessment and management plan.

Do services need to ask clients or other people, for example contractors, if they are vaccinated when they enter its premises?

There are mandatory vaccination requirements for some workers, including workers supporting people with disability, education, early childhood education and care workers, and aged care workers under different Public Health Orders. You must take all reasonable steps to ensure that workers comply with the vaccination requirements of the Public Health Orders.

Outside these settings, there’s no requirement in the current general Public Health Order to check a worker or client’s vaccination status when they arrive on the premises. The obligation to take reasonable steps to check a person’s vaccination status applies to higher risk premises such as entertainment facilities, hospitality venues and places of public worship.

You can make it a requirement to ask people this question in your COVID-19 management plan. Asking this screening question might help you to take appropriate actions in service delivery to manage risks, for example reviewing what personal protective equipment (PPE) might be needed for workers.

A person’s vaccination status is sensitive health information and must be treated in accordance with applicable privacy laws. You cannot compel clients to answer questions about their vaccination status. It’s prudent to treat clients who don’t disclose their vaccination status as though they are unvaccinated and put in place other risk control measures as needed.

See also the question: Do we have to provide services to unvaccinated clients? in this FAQ for more advice.

Your COVID-19 management plan may need to include processes for recording visitors to the workplace, including the use of QR codes.

Can clients request vaccinated workers?

It’s understandable that clients seek to reduce the risks posed by COVID-19 by requesting vaccinated workers.

You should consider these requests on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the needs of the client and your COVID-19 management plan. For example, if a client is unvaccinated for medical reasons you may consider it a reasonable adjustment to give them priority access to vaccinated staff.

You should also be careful to protect the privacy of your staff in responding to these requests. A client should not have access to the vaccination status of a staff member, nor the vaccination status of any other client. A person’s vaccination status is sensitive health information and must be treated in accordance with applicable privacy laws.

Do foster carers or relative/kin carers caring for children with disability have to get vaccinated to comply with the Public Health Orders?

It depends. There’s currently no general requirement for foster or relative/kin carers to be vaccinated. However, the Public Health (COVID-19 Care Services) Order (No. 3) requires a disability services worker who provides services to a person with disability to be appropriately vaccinated. If a foster or relative/kin carer is trained to provide disability services and is caring for children with disability because of the carer’s specialist training and experience, the carer may need to be vaccinated. You should seek your own legal advice about this. You can contact Justice Connect for free legal advice.

If a client tests positive to COVID-19, can we refuse service?

It depends on the nature of the service you’re providing.

The Public Health (COVID-19 Self-Isolation) Order (No. 4) 2021 (clause 6) says that a person who tests positive to COVID-19 must immediately travel to their place of residence, or a place suitable for them to reside in, and stay there until medically cleared. Children and young people in out-of-home care or people accessing specialist homelessness services may need to receive supports in their residence.

The Public Health (COVID-19 Self-Isolation) Order (No. 4) 2021 also says that while self-isolating, other people (including workers) can only enter the residence of the person who tested positive to COVID-19 for emergency purposes or to provide essential support services, including to people with disability. In this instance, the person attending must take reasonable steps to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission and only remain on the premises for the time it takes to provide the essential support services.

If a client who has tested positive to COVID-19 wants to access a service outside the home, for example in a community facility, then you can refuse service. Tell the client they must return home under the Public Health Orders and stay there until they are medically cleared. You can provide supports to them by other methods where possible, for example virtual visits or phone calls.

You need to consider what you’ll do if a client tests positive to COVID-19 in each of your service settings in your risk assessments, and include strategies to manage it in your COVID-19 management plan.

Small to medium organisations can contact Justice Connect to get their own legal advice at no cost. Larger service providers may have their own legal services.

Service delivery continuity - FAQs

What happens if, after doing our risk assessment, we decide to make it mandatory for our workers to get vaccinated, and some workers leave and we have service delivery issues?

Talk to your DCJ contract manager if your service delivery is affected by staff leaving.