preliminary studies have found that the pfizer and moderna mrna vaccines are about 90 per cent effective against covid-19 and the vast majority of cases are now among the unvaccinated.
many universities and businesses across canada have been grappling with some sort of vaccination mandate and prime minister justin trudeau has announced that all federal public service employees, and those in federally regulated transportation sectors, must get vaccinated. provinces, including ontario and quebec, have announced a vaccine passport system.
the issue raises questions among employees — and human resource departments — about what employers can demand, and what employees might have to submit to.
howard levitt, a toronto employment lawyer with levitt sheikh, says exemptions based on religion or medical issues, under ontario’s human rights code, are very limited. collective agreements, in unionized scenarios, may have a clause on such an issue, levitt said, but generally speaking, there is not much to prevent or reject the imposition of such policies.
“people have beliefs, personal beliefs, and personal ethics about many, many things, but if they collide with the employer’s rules and policies, you’ve got to basically leave them at the door if you want to work for that employer,” levitt said.