Worker Cash-for-Vaccine Incentives Boom Despite Legal Questions

One of the largest hospital systems in Texas is offering $500 “hope bonuses” to its 26,000 workers to get inoculated against Covid-19, joining businesses nationwide betting that they can sway vaccine-reluctant employees with incentives, and that their strategy passes legal muster.

But these companies are, in fact, gambling on a murky legal question, according to employment attorneys. The issue is quickly coming to a head as vaccines become available to workers outside of first-responders and teachers, and workplaces hit hard by the pandemic see an inoculated workforce as a means to get back on their feet.

“The law is really ...