Nine Ontario nurses who were fired for not getting a double dose of the COVID-19 vaccine could be getting their jobs back after an arbitrator determined their termination was “unreasonable.”
“Nurses intent on remaining unvaccinated are a small minority everywhere but their employee rights may not be ignored.”
Quinte Health oversees four hospitals: Belleville General Hospital, North Hastings Hospital in Bancroft, Prince Edward County Memorial Hospital in Picton, and Trenton Memorial Hospital.
The case was brought against Quinte Health by the Ontario Nurses’ Association (ONA) over a policy that required all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Those who did not comply faced automatic termination.
The decision said nine nurses were fired in 2022, with one terminated after returning from parental leave in 2023.
Vaccine Requirements
Susan Rowe, vice-president of people and strategy at Quinte Health, said in the arbitration hearing that the decision to terminate employees who did not take two doses of the vaccine was due to the organization’s recruitment concerns.“If we did not terminate, we would have to hold positions for people and could only backfill those on a temporary basis,” she said in her testimony. “It would have been challenging to recruit... and retain individuals with temporary roles.”
She also said indefinite unpaid leaves of absence were discussed but rejected because “we did not foresee any short or mid-term change for a vaccine requirement.”
Ms. Rowe acknowledged the organization was struggling with a high vacancy rate at the time of the policy and had 100 job openings across its hospitals. That number increased to as high as 275 during the pandemic.
Quinte had a pre-existing policy that encouraged vaccination but on Sept. 17, 2021, the organization notified the nurses association that COVID-19 vaccines would become mandatory. Employees were to show proof of their first vaccination by Oct. 1, 2021, and receipt of the second vaccine by Oct. 31.
Ms. Rowe said approximately 80 percent of staff were vaccinated before the policy change.
In cross-examination, Ms. Rowe said it had not been considered that vaccinations given earlier in 2021 could have waned by the time the policy was put in place.
“Hospital statistics 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,” the arbitration documents said.
Ontario nurses are not the only medical professionals who lost jobs over vaccine requirements.
Roughly 2,500 health-care workers in B.C. reportedly lost their jobs for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms (JCCF) raised a constitutional challenge in B.C. Supreme Court over the vaccine mandates, and a 10-day hearing for the case was held in November 2023. The decision is still pending.
