Employment Lawyer on vaccination mandate for City of Toronto workers

Both federal and provincial governments in Canada appear to be enforcing stricter vaccination policies for particular work sectors. The federal government has reaffirmed its earlier announcement that all federal public employees must be vaccinated by the end of October 2021. What will this mean for unvaccinated employees? Will employees be terminated without severance in sectors in which there is no government mandate?

Fiona Martyn, a Toronto employment lawyer and Associate at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP spoke with the Toronto Star concerning vaccine mandates and said city employers should be careful of terminating unvaccinated employees.

“If an employee is terminated they’re owed severance,” Martyn says, “they would also qualify for employment insurance. What that payment would look like depends on the employee’s collective agreement if they’re unionized or their individual contracts if not.”

Martyn goes on to explain that firing employees for cause is not legal unless there is a provincial or federal mandate requiring they be vaccinated. “Unpaid leave could amount to what’s called constructive dismissal and also cost the city,” Martyn states.

Will unvaccinated federal employees be entitled to severance if terminated?

“In the case of the federal government, the situation is likely different,” Martyn explains.

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“There is more of an argument that the new policy announced in Ottawa on Wednesday amounts to an official mandate for federally regulated employees and that those terminated at that level may not be entitled to severance,” says Martyn.