Ottawa employment lawyer on vaccine mandates lifting for federal employees

Interview Summary

The federal government has announced that vaccine mandates for federal employees will be lifted. What are the rights of employees who were laid off as a result of vaccine policies? Will this recall affect employee rights in the future?

Alex Lucifero, an Ottawa employment lawyer and managing Partner at Samfiru Tumarkin LLP joins Bill Carroll on Newstalk 580 CFRA to answer these questions and more.

Interview Notes

• Federal employees collecting back-pay: Employees that are federal government employees will have to look to their union to determine whether or not a grievance will be filed for back-pay. Federally regulated employees however that are private employees not part of the transportation industry, will be owed back pay and can actually pursue severance.
• Disgruntled employee demands of employer: Some employees technically agreed to the unpaid leave due to vaccine policies and will have more difficulty pursuing back-pay. Employees are able to request their previous position.
• Employees replaced while on leave: Employees must be brought back to the same positions that they had previously. A change to the fundamental terms of an employee’s position can be grounds for constructive dismissal.
• New vaccine policies and future COVID-19 waves: There is a big risk to employees who have accepted these leaves, or a temporary layoff, as they have given their employers permission to implement these changes and layoffs again.