Work: What’s Next | Lior Samfiru on COVID-19 vaccines and employee rights

Interview Summary

Vaccine distribution across the province of Ontario has led to many questions regarding employee rights and the options vaccines will bring about for businesses to re-open. What will employers be able to request regarding the COVID-19 vaccine? What will employees have the right to refuse?

Lior Samfiru, a Toronto employment lawyer and Co-founding Partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP joins Global News Toronto to discuss employee and employer rights.

Interview Notes

What can an employer mandate in the workplace?

In Canada, employers cannot enforce or mandate vaccines in the workplace as well as penalize employees who cannot or will not be vaccinated. Employers have an obligation to provide a healthy and safe workplace by implementing government-recommended measures.

LEARN MORE
How to respond if your boss is pressuring you to get the COVID-19 vaccine

Is it possible that the federal or provincial government could introduce mandatory vaccines?

It is possible that in the future mandatory vaccines are introduced by the government; doing so would allow employers to enforce mandatory vaccines in the workplace.

Can employers enforcing vaccines be challenged by their employees?

Employees who have been told they will be terminated or otherwise penalized by their employers if they have not been vaccinated should contact an employment lawyer as this could be a human rights violation.

LEARN MORE
COVID-19 and Employment Rights: Everything you need to know

Can an employer ask their employee if they have been vaccinated?

Employers generally can ask an employee if they have been vaccinated in order to determine possible accommodations. Employers cannot ask their employees if they have been vaccinated in order to penalize their employees.