Court Dismisses Appeal for Employee Denied EI Benefits After Refusing COVID Vaccine

A syringe is loaded with COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination clinic run by Vancouver Coastal Health, in Richmond, B.C., on April 10, 2021. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

A Federal Court of Appeal has upheld a decision that denied EI benefits to an Ontario man who lost his job because he did not take the COVID-19 vaccine for religious reasons.

Robin Francis, who was working at a health care centre in Ontario, lost his job in Oct. 2021 because he refused the vaccine. When he applied for Employment Insurance, he was denied benefits, which the court said in a Nov. 2 decision was in line with the Employment Insurance Act, deeming Mr. Francis’s behaviour as “misconduct.”