Almost 40 workers for the City of Richmond in B.C. who were put on unpaid leave for not providing proof of COVID-19 vaccination have won the right to return to work with back pay, in a rare legal decision to date in Canada.
As a number of decisions relating to the legal grounds of mandatory vaccination policies emerge, the vast majority of arbitrators in the country have sided with employers.
But in a mediated resolution issued at end of March, Richmond staff members who refused comply with the city’s vaccine mandate were awarded back pay from Dec. 20, when they were first put on unpaid leave, up until Feb. 21.
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