School trustees were entitled to suspend or fire teachers even if vaccine mandates were not medically justified, a labour arbitrator ruled..According to Blacklock's Reporter, the decision came in the case of an Ontario school board that disciplined 52 elementary teachers who failed to show proof of vaccination..“There is no dispute that none of the provincial or public health authorities required or specifically recommended the board make vaccination mandatory for employees,” wrote arbitrator Michelle Flaherty. However local trustees were entitled to make their own decisions on immunization, she added..The ruling came in a challenge by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario of an Ottawa-Carleton District School Board mandate introduced last September 20. The order required that all teachers show proof of vaccination under threat of suspension or firing..A total of 16 contract teachers were placed on leave without pay. Another 34 substitute teachers were restricted to online work assignments. Two casual teachers were fired..The union noted 99% of teachers were fully vaccinated and that no medical authority or Department of Education recommended vaccine mandates. The Federation cited public remarks by Ottawa’s deputy municipal medical officer of health, Dr. Brent Moloughney..“It’s up to the individual employer,” Moloughney told a public meeting last August 24. “We need to support higher levels of vaccination but the exact detail of how you structure your policy is ultimately up to the employer,” added Moloughney..Lawyers for the Teachers’ Federation argued the school board enforced its mandate “without sufficient evidence and without appropriate consideration for the other measures available to limit the spread of COVID” including rapid testing, physical distancing and use of masks and face shields..Arbitrator Flaherty disagreed. “Attendance at school and sustained in-classroom instruction have proven critical to the well-being and learning outcomes of children and youth,” she wrote..“I find that employees’ personal beliefs about vaccines, however strongly held, cannot override the Board’s interest in ensuring that schools remain open and safe for its employees and for the thousands of students it serves,” wrote Flaherty..“Mandating vaccination and removing teachers from the workplace are extraordinary measures which must not be taken lightly,” wrote the arbitrator. “However the circumstances of the pandemic have also been extraordinary.”.Ontario children lost portions of two school years due to lockdown orders issued in Mach 2020 and again in April 2021. The Ottawa school board, largest in Eastern Ontario, issued its own additional month-long lockdown order in January 2021.
