Vaccine Incentives Guidance From EEOC Leaves Employers Guessing

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission guidance on whether incentives can be offered to encourage worker Covid-19 vaccinations raised as many questions as it answered, leaving employers to grapple with what perks might violate the law.

The workplace civil rights agency updated its guidance last month to clarify that employers that don’t administer the vaccination themselves may offer incentives, and those providing the vaccine can do the same—so long as the incentive isn’t “so substantial as to be coercive.”

But what qualifies as coercive remains an open question. Employers have offered benefits ranging from one-time payments to paid ...