In Regional Municipality of York v Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 905 (Long Term Care Unit), 2022 CanLII 78173, Arbitrator Stephen Raymond decided that a mandatory vaccination policy (Policy) requiring employees in two long-term care homes to receive three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine was reasonable. The homes were operated by the Regional Municipality of York (Employer).
This was the second grievance regarding the Policy. In the first, the Employer’s two-dose Policy was found reasonable throughout the Employer’s operations, including in its two long-term care homes.
As the Union reserved an argument that the Policy’s contemplation of termination of employment for non-compliance was unreasonable, it will be addressed in a third decision.
Background
On May 31, 2021, Ontario issued a directive that operators of long-term care homes must have a mandatory vaccination policy in place by July 1, 2021 (Directive).
On July 1, 2021, in accordance with the Directive, the Employer put the Policy in place requiring full vaccination by November 1, 2021.
On October 1, 2021, Ontario announced that it required all workers in long-term care homes to have two doses of the vaccine by November 15, 2021.
On December 31, 2021, Ontario announced that it required all workers in long-term care homes to have three doses of the vaccine by January 28, 2022. The Employer amended its Policy to reflect this. Ontario extended the January 28, 2022, deadline to March 14, 2022.
Although Ontario’...
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