Coronavirus: employers can’t ask staff for health certs, but workplace inspectors can  

On the back of the buzz created over a potential domestic Covid pass after May 9, and a related statement by the Data Protection Commission, the chamber of industry and commerce (Keve) on Tuesday informed its members that employers may request staff to affirm they’ve tested negative for the coronavirus but may not demand or compel employees to produce any documentation.

In a circular to members, Keve said it has since spoken with the Data Protection Commissioner and received clarification on the matter.

“It has been clarified to us that an employer may ask (without imposing) an employee to present proof of a negative test result in order that the employer record the necessary information, but the employer has no right to keep a copy,” the statement said.

“As such…Keve suggests the creation of an archive which employees can sign, affirming in this way to the employer when they were subjected to a rapid and/or PCR test, and that the result was negative (recommended specimen table attached).”

Keve added: “Lastly, we note that by virtue of the latest decree concerning measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus (Decree number 14 of 2021), employees who either possess a valid vaccination certificate issued by the Republic, have completed their immunisation regimen and the required amount of time has elapsed as set by the guidelines issued by the health ministry, or have been diagnosed positive to Covid-19 but six months have not lapsed since the date on which the sample of the initial [positive] laboratory diagnosis was made, are exempt from the obligation to undergo antigen rapid test for Covid-19.”

A day earlier, the Data Protection Commissioner had stated that one not is required or compelled to produce a certificate of vaccination or the result of a Covid test or any other such documentation.

Such certificates, she added, involve a person’s health information and enjoy enhanced protection under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation.

Employees possessing negative rapid or PCR test results, as part of the decrees concerning the workplace, are under no obligation to present these to their employer – but only to inform their employer verbally of the test result.

Staff having been vaccinated and are therefore exempt from undergoing a test for a period of time, will inform their employer accordingly but again are not obligated to produce any documentation.

“In any event, the burden of proof falls on the person required to hold such a certificate.”

According to the Commissioner, persons holding such certificates must however present them to workplace inspectors or police officers conducting checks under the coronavirus decrees in force. Other than an inspector or a police officer, no one may ask a citizen for any certificate in order to be allowed access or entry to any site, or to request such documentation for any other reason.

Two prominent lawyers have hammered the government over its apparent intention to creep in a Covid pass – even indirectly if not by law- and urged authorities to reconsider, calling the idea extreme, disproportionate, and a stark violation of civil liberties.

They’ve also asked the health minister to include a member of the bar association on the scientific advisory team for Covid – but their pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

The issue arose because in issuing his latest decree on April 23, bringing in a third lockdown from April 26 to May 9, Health Minister Constantinos Ioannou also stated that as of May 10 the decree measures will be lifted and the arrangements in force will be reinstated, provided that in gathering places visitors must carry a rapid test or PCR valid for 72 hours, or else have been vaccinated with at least the first dose of the vaccine three weeks before or to have been infected by the Covid-19 during the last three months.

On the question of church services during the Holy Week, the government has decreed a 50-person limit inside a place of worship, but also said that churchgoers will need a vaccination certificate – one dose of a Covid vaccine at least three weeks prior.

Compliance to these rules will be carried out by the police.

Police spokesman Christos Andreou told the Cyprus Mail that on Monday, for instance, they conducted 138 checks at places of worship across the island – finding zero violations of the latest decree.

On whether the police have to date received any guidance -informal or otherwise – from the government on the broader issue of a Covid pass after May 9, Andreou said no.

“If something is provided for in a government decree, we will of course enforce it. The requirement for a Covid certificate [proof of immunisation or negative test result] for access to sites is not included in any decree yet.”