Employment lawyer on removal of financial safety net for the unvaccinated

Interview Summary

In a recent announcement, Canada’s Employment Minister has stated that workers who are terminated as a result of their vaccination status might not be eligible for Employment Insurance benefits. What does this mean for employees who have yet to be vaccinated?

Dan Balkaran, a Vancouver employment lawyer and Associate at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP spoke with Global News B.C to comment on the ongoing issue for employees.

Interview Notes

“The federal government is leaving people with few options,” says Balkaran. “As far as the Employment Ministry is concerned, that’s what they’re doing and that’s what’s going to happen. The vast majority of people are going to be disentitled to EI.”

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Ineligibility for E.I

Balkaran goes on to explain that this could cause a large host of problems for individuals. “Which means the primary emergency safety net that terminated employees draw on to put food on their table, pay their mortgages, that sort of thing while they look for a new job. That’s going to be eliminated for those people so I think it’s very serious,” Balkaran states.

“The purpose of EI is emergency money to help you survive right now, and if it takes you six months to get that money it’s really kind of counter-productive,” says Balkaran.

Balkaran urges employees to look at their options practically and try and remove emotion from their decision whether or not to get vaccinated. “You need to evaluate what’s important to you. If you’re 53 years old with no university education making $85,000 per year and you need to get to retirement, you can’t lose that job,” Balkaran states.

“So is there an amicable solution you can come to with the employer such as working remotely? And if not you need to take a hard look at getting the vaccine, because you’re looking potentially at economic ruin.”