Employees who declined the COVID-19 vaccine were fired by employers simply because of the “prevailing community view,” a British Columbia labour arbitrator ruled. Although divisive, he said, he considered the dismissals reasonable.
“In British Columbia the message was to stay calm, kind and safe as everyone worked to overcome the effects of the pandemic,” wrote arbitrator James Dorsey. “There were personal, intense and consequential differences about vaccination within families, friendship circles and communities,” he said.
Mr. Dorsey said that employers who adopted vaccination policies for their employees followed the prevailing community consensus that held vaccines were the most effective and necessary means of addressing the pandemic’s effects, according to Blacklock’s Reporter.
The British Columbia General Employees’ Union (BCGEU) went to arbitration after three workers were fired by their employer, Technical Safety B.C., in Vancouver. The appeals were dismissed by the arbitrator.
The organization, according to official estimates, had a workforce of 450, 99 percent of whom had chosen vaccination.
All three fired employees worked remotely and were available for testing.
An expert witness testifying on behalf of the union said COVID-19 had impacted both the vaccinated and unvaccinated populations, with no randomized scientific studies directly comparing the effectiveness of vaccination against alternative precautions.
“We are moving backward and sinking in a dark place with vaccine mandates,” one former employee wrote to management. “It’s not about the COVID-19 vaccine being good or bad, it is about imposing an experimental medical procedure on Technical Safety B.C. employees.”
Staff had six weeks to provide evidence of vaccination, or face being put on unpaid leave and dismissal by Jan. 10, 2022.
Mr. Dorsey acknowledged the workplace rule on vaccination implemented by Technical Safety B.C. was introduced unilaterally and had not been approved by the union, but said the mandate was justified, albeit extreme.
“At the time the policy was a good faith promotion of health and safety for all employees in the workplace and furthered the employer’s safety mandate and legitimate business interests,” Mr. Dorsey wrote.
“The misconduct for which the employees were dismissed was continued noncompliance with the policy,” wrote Dorsey. “The issue is whether there was just and reasonable cause for each dismissal and whether any was an excessive disciplinary response in the circumstances. This is the real substance of the matter in dispute.”
“Where many others went through the motions, we will be fighting these coercive, immoral, contradictory policies with full force,” the union said.
No national agency has yet calculated the total number of workers who were fired under vaccine mandates.
