EXCLUSIVE: ATCO Drops Vaccine Policy While 31 Employees Who Lost Jobs Continue Lawsuit

Matthew McCarthy, former senior distribution field manager for ATCO, who lost his job after 18 years of employment for not complying with mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policies. (Courtesy of Matthew McCarthy)

ATCO, the Calgary-based electricity and natural gas provider, announced it will be dropping its mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for all employees, contractors, and future hires, effective Dec. 31, in an email sent to ATCO employees on Dec. 21 and obtained by The Epoch Times.

The mandatory vaccine policy will have been in effect one full year, since Jan. 1. ATCO will no longer require proof of COVID-19 vaccination after the last day of the year, states the email, and “new employees and contractors hired after December 31 will not be required to declare their vaccination status as a condition of employment.”

The memo notes that employees required to travel internationally on behalf of the company “may still need to meet certain countries’ entrance vaccination requirements.”

A company spokesperson says ATCO made the decision based on “prevailing professional public health guidance, the general relaxation of external restrictions, and the ability of ATCO to manage our essential service commitments.”

Impacted Employees

The reversal in policy comes too late for Matthew McCarthy, a senior distribution field operator for ATCO who lives in Didsbury, Alberta. After 18 years of employment, he says he was placed on an involuntary unpaid leave of absence in January because he would not provide proof of vaccination for COVID-19 and disclose his private health information to his employer.

McCarthy was terminated on May 2, along with 30 other employees who were either forced to resign or let go under duress as a direct result of the mandatory vaccination policy, according to lawyers representing the workers.

The employees, who call themselves the 31Strong, are not vaccinated for COVID-19 or oppose being vaccinated for personal reasons. All are opposed to providing their vaccine status and medical information to their employer.

One employee, Debbi Bolduc, is still currently employed by ATCO as a sourcing specialist, but is on disability after 9 years and 5 months on the job. Another employee, Sebastian Leybold, a senior control centre operator, has worked for ATCO for 25 years, and is on long-term disability with no return date to work. Another employee, Jason McDonagh, was employed as a distribution operator field and had worked at the utility giant for 19.5 years.

The majority of the 31 employees have worked for ATCO for between 10 to 20 years. COVID testing was not provided to any of the employees as an alternative to mandatory vaccination, says McCarthy.

Forced to Sell His House

The 31Strong filed legal action against ATCO and the Alberta Government, as the regulator of the public utility company, in July of this year.

McCarthy, a 43-year-old father of two, says he worked “tirelessly and safely” through two years of COVID-19 before vaccines mandates appeared, with what he says was “next to zero transmission within the workplace.”

After losing his job, McCarthy had no choice but to sell his house, he says.

“I was forced to live at my parents’ house, while raising two kids as a divorced dad,” he says. He was unable to obtain new work.

“I was terminated over a mandate that will soon not even exist. This part is heart-wrenching,” says McCarthy.

He said his “life has been forever changed” and he wants ATCO to be held accountable for the harm that has been done.

Another 15-year former employee of ATCO, Jason Guilbault, told The Epoch Times the announcement that ATCO is now dropping its mandatory vaccine policy is “bittersweet,” and while it may benefit those who decide to work for the company in the future, it doesn’t help those who have already lost their livelihoods.

Jason Guilbault, a 15-year employee of ATCO, who lost his job as a result of mandatory vaccine policies. (Courtesy of Matthew McCarthy)

“We are happy that the policy has been suspended but it has little effect on those terminated at this point,” he says. “It’s time for restitution.”

The employees are continuing with their legal challenge, with the next court date scheduled for Jan. 11, 2023.

The 31Strong “have suffered greatly for standing up for bodily autonomy,” says Guilbault. They have “lost homes, vehicles, the ability to provide for their families and secure similar employment.”

“The decision to suspend the policy lends credibility to the simple fact that these policies were never warranted to begin with,” says Guilbault. He says the group’s lawyers intend to prove ATCO’s policy was not rooted in current scientific and statistical data and that feasible alternatives, like COVID-19 testing instead of vaccination, as was offered by other companies, were ignored.

The 31Strong are represented by constitutional lawyers Leighton Grey and Natalie Johnson of the Alberta law firm Grey Wowk Spencer. Grey has been legal counsel on a number of high-profile legal actions underway on behalf of unvaccinated employees who were let go for not getting the shots, including workers at CN rail, Canadian Pacific Railway, and WestJet pilots and flight attendants.

Grey says thousands of workers, both unionized and non-unionized, “are living through the horrors of these vaccine mandates and the intense invasion of privacy, under threat of administrative sanction and termination.”

Grey says these unprecedented mandates are not about health but rather about control and compliance. Some of his clients are “living in their cars” rather than receiving COVID shots, which are new to market with no long-term safety profile. The constitutional lawyer adds medical information is statutorily protected and these violations of employee rights are unprecedented.

Mandatory vaccines as a condition of employment “constitute serious human rights violations, they offend the Charter, they offend provincial human rights legislation. They offend the Federal Bill of Rights, the Canadian Labour Code, and the provincial and equivalent provincial statutes,” said the lawyer, testifying before a citizen’s inquiry into harms caused by government COVID-19 restrictions.

ATCO’s email says its policy helped “to reduce the frequency and severity of employee and contractor illnesses and helping allow ATCO to continue delivering our essential services.”

Jan. 11 Court Date

The statement of claim filed by the 31Strong states, “The Policy is clear: get vaccinated or get lost.” The workers maintain that the mandatory vaccine policy created a toxic and hostile work environment, with no viable alternatives to disclosing their private health information, instead of submitting to unwanted medical treatment.

A hearing was set on the matter for Nov. 15, but Johnson said the employees asked to have it adjourned to Jan. 11, 2023, to provide enough time for legal argument. ATCO unsuccessfully contested the adjournment request, says the lawyer, while the Alberta government has taken no position on ATCO’s application to strike.

ATCO has not filed a statement of defence against the lawsuit, and the allegations have not been proven in court.

ATCO filed an application to have the lawsuit thrown out, on the basis that the workers should have proceeded through union grievance procedures.

“The unionized employees believed they were not adequately represented in this process,” says Johnson. As such, they filed a lawsuit rather than go through the union. The employees are now seeking costs against ATCO for losing the adjournment application, which will also be heard in January.

Johnson says, “Although the policy has been suspended, the lawsuit will continue as loyal employees have lost their jobs and suffered damages.”

$1,000 to Get Shots

Lawyers for the 31Strong maintain that ATCO was told by the Alberta government to implement a vaccine mandate and that the province “would protect ATCO from legal liability.” The documents state the announcement was made publicly at a press conference.

As such, the Alberta government has been named as a party to the legal action. The workers’ statement of claim states that ATCO is regulated through provincial legislation and is a public utility, thus subject to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“Alberta and ATCO agreed that ATCO would mandate the COVID-19 vaccination ... for the express purpose of protecting the citizens of Alberta and the public health” of the province, alleges the statement of claim. None of the statements have been proven in court.

The Epoch Times reached out to the government of Alberta for comment but didn’t immediately hear back.

The vaccine policy required ATCO employees to receive the COVID-19 vaccine outside the company’s premises. At one point, ATCO offered employees $1,000 to get the required two shots, as part of a “vaccine incentive program,” said McCarthy. An ATCO email said the money was “thanks for doing the right thing.”

ATCO employees who registered for the vaccine incentive program were unable to claim Worker’s Compensation if they suffered an adverse event or reaction to the shots, according to the group’s lawyers.

Kurt Kadatz, director of corporate communications for ATCO, confirmed that the company will be dropping the vaccine policy on Dec. 31. He told The Epoch Times that “all terminated employees were offered severance and their positions have been filled or accountabilities re-assigned.”

“None of the terminated individuals would automatically be rehired. We encourage anyone who wants to join—or rejoin—ATCO to apply for one of the open positions on our website,” Kadatz said.

McCarthy acknowledges ATCO offered severance, but his lawyer says “it was not a fair offer.”

To receive the severance, employees had to sign a general release, which would not allow them to bring legal action. “Therefore everyone of the 31 in our lawsuit have not been able to accept our severance pay,” says McCarthy.