Labour shortage leads to retaining unvaccinated employees

Due to the ongoing labour shortage, Aurora Cannabis has struggled to fill positions and has decided to retain unvaccinated employees. A dilemma for many employers facing a potential worker shortage has been whether or not they can enforce a fully vaccinated staff.

Stan Fainzilberg, a Toronto employment lawyer and partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP spoke to the Globe and Mail on the ongoing issue and explained that many employers face an uphill battle with their vaccine policies.

“The number of companies still terminating people for not being vaccinated has fallen significantly since last fall and winter,” says Fainzilberg.

Fainzilberg goes on to explain that companies in current legal disputes with former employees who have since rehired unvaccinated workers, or are keeping them employed longer, undermine their initial health and safety argument.

“It does not make sense. They are choosing to terminate these employees because they are a health risk to the workplace. It will probably not work in their favour, legally, to ask some of them to return.”