Ontario arbitrator rules that nurses fired for refusing COVID-19 injection were UNREASONABLY TERMINATED
Nine Ontario nurses fired for refusing the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) injection could be reinstated, thanks to a decision by arbitrator James Hayes.
Hayes sided with the nurses, represented by the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA), in his Feb. 28 ruling. The nurses were fired by Canadian healthcare provider Quinte Health for turning down the COVID-19 vaccine. Quinte Health oversees four hospitals in Canada’s Ontario province, according to LifeSiteNews.
“They should have been offered the option of an unpaid leave of absence and must, therefore, be reinstated as Quinte employees if that be their wish,” he wrote. “Nurses intent on remaining unvaccinated are a small minority everywhere. But their employee rights may not be ignored.”
Quinte Health imposed a vaccine mandate on its employees, requiring its workforce to receive two injections against COVID-19 beginning in September 2021. Employees were told to provide proof of their first dose by Oct. 1, 2021 and proof of the second dose by Oct. 31, 2021. Non-compliant employees faced automatic termination.
Lawyer Howard Goldblatt, who represented the ONA, lauded the ruling as an “important decision.” He continued: “I’m hoping that, to the extent that we can get these nurses back into the workplace, the doors will be open and they’ll come back.” According to Goldblatt, the ONA and Quinte Health officials would discuss compensation for the terminated nurses’ lost years of work.
Based on the ONA’s figures, Quinte terminated approximately 600 registered nurses for noncompliance with the healthcare provider’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Quinte Health commits to complying with arbiter’s ruling
According to an emailed statement from Quinte Health, the vaccine mandate was enforced “as an important measure to protect health-care workers, prevent transmission, maintain health-care capacity, promote public health, and fulfill our ethical obligation to prioritize patient safety and well-being.”
Quinte Health Vice President of People and Strategy Susan Rowe claimed that the decision to fire the unvaccinated nurses was due to recruitment concerns. Despite this, she admitted that the healthcare provider had 100 job openings across its hospitals. Rowe also mentioned that Quinte Health did not place the nurses on unpaid leave as the company “did not foresee any short- or mid-term change for a vaccine requirement.”
“If we did not terminate, we would have to hold positions for people and could only backfill those on a temporary basis,” she testified before Hayes. “It would have been challenging to recruit … and retain individuals with temporary roles.”
Despite the vaccine mandates, hospital statistics from the healthcare provider “indicated that of the 335 staff infections between April 2021 and March 2022, only 60 were between April and December 2021. The other 275, and likely some of the 60, were with a fully vaccinated workforce.”
Quinte Health nevertheless announced following the decision that it “respects the arbitrator’s ruling and will work with our ONA partners on [the] next steps.”
“Hopefully, the ruling will lead to more hospitals abandoning their vaccine mandates,” an Ontario nurse who spoke on condition of anonymity told LifeSiteNews. “Considering the nursing shortages across Canada, it would be amazing if more nurses could return to work.”
As per a recent memo by Health Canada, the Land of Maple currently faces a shortage of 90,000 doctors, nurses and other front-line healthcare workers – resulting in a “health worker crisis.” Because of this, wait times to receive care in Canada have increased to an average of 27.7 weeks, causing some to despair and end their lives via euthanasia rather than wait for treatment.
Currently, vaccine mandates for healthcare workers are still in place in many jurisdictions across Canada despite a critical staff shortage in many hospitals. While some provincial governments have lifted their mandates, several hospitals still require the experimental vaccine as a condition of employment.
Additionally, a recently unveiled survey found that a significant number of Canadian healthcare workers, including most nurses, were hesitant to take the experimental COVID-19 shots and only did so because it was mandated across the sector.
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