The Edmonton Jnl writes
An Alberta-based labour and employment lawyer expects cases challenging COVID-19 vaccine mandates to increase as Albertans get back to work, but whether they are successful remains to be seen.
Frank Molnar, of Field Law, said the country is at the early stages of case law regarding vaccine mandates, with three arbitration decisions currently in Ontario. But, he believes there will “absolutely” be more cases brought forward, and in a variety of forms.
“I think you’re gonna see grievances under collective agreements. Probably the first ones will be policy grievances,” he said.
“You might see some individual grievances. You may see some individuals suing for wrongful dismissal that were terminated because they did not comply with the policy.”
There may also be cases of “constructive dismissal,” where an individual could argue they never agreed to a policy and the employer is “forcing” it on them, Molnar said.
“I expect that we’ll see some decisions dealing with those claims down the road,” Molnar said. “It takes a long time for these matters to go to the court, so I expect there will be some time before we get some wrongful dismissal or constructive dismissal cases that have been decided.”
He said there have not been any human rights decisions yet over mandatory vaccines. However, there have been complaint dismissals over mandatory face mask use, which has provided some guidance.
“There were retail environments where individuals have refused to wear a mask and they filed a human rights complaint, and all of those complaints have been dismissed,” Molnar said.
“It doesn’t mean that ultimately someone could not file a successful human rights complaint. It’s just that the ones that were filed just didn’t meet the test.”
