LOUISVILLE, Ky. — As mask restrictions loosen in areas, some vaccination rules are tightening in others.

There are businesses requiring employees to be vaccinated. An employment attorney tells Spectrum News 1, requiring workers to be vaccinated is mostly legal. 

Hildegard House is a the Louisville nonprofit where people unable to receive Hospice care, due to lack of family or other reasons, can stay to live their last days. It is run by staff and volunteers, founded by Karen Cassidy. She's enacted a new policy, which is posted at the house entrance in no uncertain terms: "Hildegard House has a mandatory vaccination policy."

This goes for all staff, volunteers, and visitors entering the building. Visitors must show proof they've been vaccinated against COVID-19. If a visitor is not vaccinated, they must show proof they're tested weekly or have been within 72 hours.

"We provide a home and a family. Family are volunteers, to individuals at the end of life, so they can die with dignity," Cassidy explains of her mission. "Everybody that comes into Hildegard House has to be vaccinated, has to show their vaccination card."

Cassidy feels strongly that health care centers, and places that provide care to vulnerable people, should enact policies such as hers. 

"I've heard people say 'well, it's a personal choice whether you get vaccinated or not,' and I say no, it's not," she says. "To look at it that way is very selfish. You need to look out for the community good."

Employment Attorney Emily Litzinger, with Fisher & Phillips LLC in Louisville, says it's not unusual that businesses and nonprofits in the health care field require employees to get vaccinated; she says it is legal. Outside of the realm of health care, Litzinger says it can often depend on the type of business.

While legally employers can mandate vaccinations, there are some exceptions like for people who have disabilities or religious objections. "The employer needs to be prepared to work with that individual to see if there's a reasonable accommodation that can be made," says Litzinger. 

The vaccine mandate is a question she's actually been getting quite frequently, lately. Here's the workplace scenario Litzinger gets a lot: "a large portion of the population is vaccinated, but there's a couple of people that are holdouts. So, I have had that conversation several times about 'what are we gonna do, are we going to now mandate?'"

Her answer depends on the type of business, and whether there are "reasonable" accommodations that can be made, such as working from home. "I would say you really have to look at their workforce and what kind of message you want to send to employees."

When it comes to places that care for the elderly or immunocomprised, Cassidy urges these establishments to require vaccinations like she has. She's even had to part with some unvaccinated volunteers.

"If your mission is to care for vulnerable people and you are in health care, it should be your business to protect them. To not vaccinate people, I believe, is irresponsible ... you're not true to your mission, you're putting the people you're supposed to be serving at risk," Cassidy remarks. 

So far in Kentucky, more than 1.9 million people have been vaccinated, or 44% of the population.