A labour and personal injury lawyer in the province says employers are well within their right to suspend or terminate a worker who is not double vaccinated and who does not have a medical or religious exemption.

Cletus Flaherty of Rogers Rogers Moyse says situations will differ. For example, someone terminated with cause probably would receive no compensation while a person laid off or terminated without cause would. Being unionized or non-unionized also factors into the equation.

When workplace policies on vaccination began emerging, Flaherty would take a call or two a week from someone with concerns about mandatory jabs but, as the December 17 deadline draws near, he’s taking one or two calls per day.

He expects the courts to uphold the vast majority of such policies, except where religious or medical exemptions apply. He also doubts that people who resign from their job or are dismissed because of the vaccination atmosphere in their organization will qualify for EI.

He’s certain that in the vast majority of cases, courts and employers will not deem the termination of unvaccinated employees as a disciplinary measure because in a lot of situations, there is no contractual duty or obligation to be vaccinated. Therefore, you can hardly say that a person is guilty of breaking a rule which was not in their contract in the beginning.