Federal labour board orders CRA to pay Christian employees $13,500 over vaccine mandate

CALGARY — A federal labour board has ordered the Canada Revenue Agency to pay $13,500 in damages to two Christian employees who were suspended without pay after refusing to comply with the agency’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.According to Blacklock’s Reporter, adjudicator Patricia Harewood of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board ruled the CRA discriminated against the employees, who objected to vaccines developed or tested using fetal cell lines.“The employer’s actions were discriminatory,” Harewood wrote.The board said the central question was not whether the mandate prevented the employees from practising their religion, but whether it interfered with their ability to follow sincerely held religious beliefs.“To interfere with religious belief in a way that is more than trivial or insubstantial is to disrupt it and put it in harm’s way,” the decision said.Michael Abourizk, a computer analyst earning $64,000 annually, went months without pay after refusing to comply with the mandate.“In being forced to choose between my religious convictions and my employment, I experienced what I believe to be clear violation of my rights,” Abourizk wrote.“I believe in the sanctity of life above all,” he added. “I also believe in science. I know there are vaccines being developed not using fetal matter, and I am choosing to wait for those.”The board awarded Abourizk $6,000 in damages. He also sought $16,400 in lost wages.Lucy Agbor, an auditor earning $88,000 annually, cited Scripture when explaining her refusal to comply with the federal mandate..Conservative MPs weep at hearing for Canadians claiming COVID vaccine injuries.“The Holy Bible says our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19),” Agbor wrote. “The long-term effects of all the COVID-19 vaccines are completely unknown.”Agbor also questioned whether the vaccines had undergone sufficient testing before being administered to the public.“Most vaccines are tested for years before they are given to humans so the medical community, government and general public know reasonably well if the vaccines are safe,” she wrote.“Because of the panic over COVID, these vaccines were not tested using the vigorous procedures that are used for most other vaccines.”Agbor was awarded $7,500 in damages. She had also sought $41,367 in back pay and lost bonuses.Treasury Board guidance issued to federal departments in 2021 said managers assessing requests for religious accommodation had to determine whether an employee sincerely held a religious belief preventing vaccination.“The requirement is to focus on the sincerity of the individual belief rooted in religion, not whether it is recognized by other members of the same religion,” the Treasury Board wrote in its Managers’ toolkit for the implementation of the policy on COVID-19 vaccination.“The belief must be religious in nature, not a personal moral belief, and the employee must explain the nature of the belief and why it prevents vaccination.”The labour board cited the Supreme Court of Canada’s 2004 decision in Syndicat Northcrest v. Amselem, which defined religious beliefs as deeply held personal convictions connected to a person’s spiritual faith and sense of self, rather than beliefs based solely on a formal religious obligation.Of approximately 250,000 federal employees working in the core public administration, 2,042 requested religious exemptions from the vaccine mandate. Only 540 applications, or 26%, were approved.

Federal labour board orders CRA to pay Christian employees $13,500 over vaccine mandate

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Labour board rules CRA discriminated against Christian employee over COVID vaccine mandate