The global COVID-19 crisis has had a significant impact on the world. The rapid spread of this highly contagious disease has prompted governments and business organisations to devise specialized strategies to stop its spread. There were some efforts to minimize face-to–face contact by using methods like working remotely or creating safeguards for clients to ensure their safety. Safe Work Australia (SWA), an organisation tasked with ensuring that workplaces are safe and healthy in Australia, recommended to businesses that they only offer vaccinated customers. This has been expanded to the restaurant and hotel industries, with stores, cafés, and restaurants demanding confirmation of vaccination before providing clients access to their services or goods. There has been much debate about the legal and ethical implications of this decision. It is possible to argue about the efficiency with which firms execute this act in order for their customers or employees to be safe without having their earnings affected. The Australian restaurant system of mandating that customers are vaccinated prior to allowing them in is sensible and should be adopted in the workplace.
Both theoretical and legal frameworks
The moral and ethical obligation of businesses is to promote the wellbeing of the entire population at all costs. It involves protecting consumers from dangerous behaviors, goods and activities. This helps to disassociate businesses from bad habits. The Utilitarianism ethical theory is based on the concept of consequentialism. It aims to resolve an issue so that all persons who are affected by it can be positively influenced. This view states that an action is moral when it enhances the enjoyment and well-being for the most people impacted. Stos (2018). Jeremy Bentham suggested that an activity must either promote happiness, well being, enjoyment or minimize negative consequences, by avoiding mischief, pain, misery, or suffering. The outcomes of an act are what determine the ethics of that action. This theory is based on the belief in equality and prioritizing the public interest over all other factors. Aristotle’s view of virtue ethics is similar to utilitarianism. It focuses on the results of actions to decide if they are good or bad. Aristotle stated that the quality and purpose of an undertaking determines its success or failure.