Fired Unvaccinated Health Workers in BC to Keep Seniority and Benefits if Rehired, Says Union

A nurse monitors a patient from outside his room in the COVID-19 intensive care unit at St. Paul's hospital in downtown Vancouver on April 21, 2020. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

A health employees union and an employer association for British Columbia’s health sector have reached an agreement on conditions for rehiring workers terminated for not being vaccinated against COVID-19, saying the workers will retain their seniority and other benefits if rehired.

The Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) confirmed reaching an agreement with the Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA), led by the Hospital Employees Union (HEU), to recognize previous seniority and service for FBA members terminated due to COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

The employees became eligible to return to work after the B.C. government’s recent announcement that it was rescinding the vaccine mandate imposed on health-care workers in 2021.

“Parallel agreements have been offered to all health sector unions,” HEABC communications director Roy Thorpe-Dorward said in a July 31 emailed statement.

Signed on July 29, the agreement ensures that FBA workers rehired into their former positions or comparable roles, or added to the casual registry, will have their seniority recognized as if they had been on unpaid leave, according to a July 30 HEU press release. Sick leave and special leave banks will also be reinstated.

These provisions will be in place for six months, ending on Jan. 27, 2025.

The FBA bargaining unit represents roughly 60,000 health services providers in B.C., encompassing several unions involved in collective bargaining for health-care workers. FBA members includes care aides, lab assistants, health records clerks, cleaning staff, and trades and maintenance workers.

The HEABC negotiates on behalf of public health sector employers in the province.

The B.C. government announced on July 26 that it was ending the COVID-19 public health emergency and “rescinding all related orders” in health-care settings. The province had been under a public health emergency for more than four years, since March 2020, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 2,500 health-care workers in B.C. lost their jobs for deciding not to get COVID-19 vaccinations.

With the lifting of the mandates, the B.C. government is now requiring health-care workers to disclose their immunization status for various diseases, meaning that the workers who lost their jobs will need to disclose their vaccination status to return to work.

“The Province is making it mandatory for health-care workers to disclose their immunization status as a way to help keep people safe,” the B.C. government said in its July 26 news release.

The government added that collecting these records will enable quick action for unvaccinated health-care workers in case of an exposure, an outbreak, or a future pandemic, including measures like masking, modified duties, or exclusion from work.

In addition to their vaccination status for COVID-19 and influenza, health-care workers are also required to report whether they have been vaccinated or have previously contracted measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, whooping cough (pertussis), and chickenpox (varicella).

Chandra Philip and Isaac Teo contributed to this report.