A labour arbitrator has ruled the federal postal service wrongfully suspended unvaccinated remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada Post employees who refused to disclose their vaccine status were at the time suspended without pay. The case was brought forth by the Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE), which represents 1,500 Canada Post employees. Of them 37 refused to confirm they got the vaccine (two doses), while many others left their job rather than show their vaccine status, according to the ruling. Arbitrator Michelle Flaherty found it was unreasonable to require “exclusively remote” workers who had “no reasonable prospect” of having to go into work at the office to take an mRNA vaccine. “Canada Post has not established a compelling workplace health and safety interest in mandating vaccines for employees who worked exclusively remotely, where there was no reasonable prospect that in-person work would be required of them,” wrote Flaherty in her ruling. The ruling could indicate potential outcomes in the multitude of similar cases, including widespread grievances filed in 2021 by Canada’s largest public service union, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government’s mandatory vaccination policy, per the National Post. PSAC, of which UPCE is a member, has several grievances still in arbitration. In each case, PSAC demands the federal government compensate federal servants who were suspended for not disclosing their personal health records. PSAC argues the Trudeau Liberals’ vaccine mandate for public employees was an “unreasonable” one. Canada Post implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in October 2021, roughly at the same time as the rest of the federal public service. The mandate required employees to attest to having two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine or risk being put on unpaid leave.Flaherty in her ruling noted the purpose of the federal mandate was supposedly to stop the spread of COVID-19 at the office, and pointed out that mandating vaccines for remote workers was “unreasonable.”“These employees had no reasonable prospect of coming into physical contact with the workplace and I cannot conclude that the primary purpose of the (mandatory vaccination practice) was advanced by requiring their vaccination,” she wrote. “In essence, the employer’s position is that it can prescribe activities, including medical procedures like vaccination, simply because this could increase the likelihood an employee will be available to work.”“To the extent that any such interest exists, this is outweighed by the important interests at stake for the employees in question, including their privacy and their financial and economic interest in ongoing paid employment.”However, the arbitrator threw out the union’s argument that both remote workers and in-person workers who refused to participate in the mandatory vaccine program should be compensated. “The employer is not required to accommodate unvaccinated employees so they can work remotely. There is no requirement to adjust an unvaccinated employee’s tasks or to assign parts of their work to other employees. It was not reasonable to expect the employer to do so,” wrote Flaherty.
A labour arbitrator has ruled the federal postal service wrongfully suspended unvaccinated remote workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Canada Post employees who refused to disclose their vaccine status were at the time suspended without pay. The case was brought forth by the Union of Postal Communications Employees (UPCE), which represents 1,500 Canada Post employees. Of them 37 refused to confirm they got the vaccine (two doses), while many others left their job rather than show their vaccine status, according to the ruling. Arbitrator Michelle Flaherty found it was unreasonable to require “exclusively remote” workers who had “no reasonable prospect” of having to go into work at the office to take an mRNA vaccine. “Canada Post has not established a compelling workplace health and safety interest in mandating vaccines for employees who worked exclusively remotely, where there was no reasonable prospect that in-person work would be required of them,” wrote Flaherty in her ruling. The ruling could indicate potential outcomes in the multitude of similar cases, including widespread grievances filed in 2021 by Canada’s largest public service union, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC), against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government’s mandatory vaccination policy, per the National Post. PSAC, of which UPCE is a member, has several grievances still in arbitration. In each case, PSAC demands the federal government compensate federal servants who were suspended for not disclosing their personal health records. PSAC argues the Trudeau Liberals’ vaccine mandate for public employees was an “unreasonable” one. Canada Post implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate in October 2021, roughly at the same time as the rest of the federal public service. The mandate required employees to attest to having two doses of a COVID-19 vaccine or risk being put on unpaid leave.Flaherty in her ruling noted the purpose of the federal mandate was supposedly to stop the spread of COVID-19 at the office, and pointed out that mandating vaccines for remote workers was “unreasonable.”“These employees had no reasonable prospect of coming into physical contact with the workplace and I cannot conclude that the primary purpose of the (mandatory vaccination practice) was advanced by requiring their vaccination,” she wrote. “In essence, the employer’s position is that it can prescribe activities, including medical procedures like vaccination, simply because this could increase the likelihood an employee will be available to work.”“To the extent that any such interest exists, this is outweighed by the important interests at stake for the employees in question, including their privacy and their financial and economic interest in ongoing paid employment.”However, the arbitrator threw out the union’s argument that both remote workers and in-person workers who refused to participate in the mandatory vaccine program should be compensated. “The employer is not required to accommodate unvaccinated employees so they can work remotely. There is no requirement to adjust an unvaccinated employee’s tasks or to assign parts of their work to other employees. It was not reasonable to expect the employer to do so,” wrote Flaherty.
