WJ ordered to pay fired accountant for refusing COVID vaccination.

[Airbrake]

https://calgaryherald.com/news/local-ne ... n?tbref=hp


WestJet was wrong to fire an accountant who refused to get vaccinated during the height of the pandemic after the airline ordered all workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine, a Calgary judge ruled Tuesday.

In a written decision, Justice Aldo Argento ordered WestJet to pay Duong Yee $65,587.72 in damages, the equivalent of 11 months’ salary.

Yee was dismissed by the airline Dec. 1, 2021, after the airline ordered all employees to get vaccinated in light of a federal government mandate for all transportation employees. She had claimed a religious exemption, but WestJet refused that application.

Argento said WestJet could have permitted Yee, then 36, and an 11-year employee of the company, to continue working from home which would not have violated the federal mandate.

“The plaintiff’s refusal to comply with the (company’s) vaccination policy did not impact her job performance,” Argento wrote.

“It did not endanger the defendant’s employees or the public as the plaintiff was working from home. While a future, partial return to work was anticipated, that was not yet implemented.”

The Calgary Court of Justice judge said the regulations put in place by Ottawa only applied to employees working on WestJet properties.

“The regulations only required the defendant’s employees who were physically accessing ‘aerodrome property’ to be vaccinated. They would not have applied to the plaintiff while she continued to work from home,” Argento said.

“The defendant was aware of the regulations, but did not consider whether the plaintiff could continue working from home as an alternative to dismissal.”

WestJet employee could have continued working from home without getting Covid vaccine, says judge


WestJet logo
A WestJet logo at the Vancouver International Airport. Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press
Argento said while Yee did not comply with the airline’s vaccination policy, there were other measures available besides dismissal in the case.

“It is significant that dismissal was not the only option available,” he said.

“Even though the defendant’s vaccination policy stipulated that anyone failing to comply would be subject to discipline up to and including termination for cause, the defendant did not have to proceed in this fashion.”

Argento said Yee had already been working from home for six months and WestJet would not have been required to create a new remote position for her.

The judge said he did not have to consider whether Yee was the victim of religious discrimination based on the airline’s refusal to grant her a vaccination exemption, as he found she was wrongfully terminated.

Argento also declined to grant moral or aggravated damages finding “the dismissal was not conducted in an unduly insensitive or egregious manner.”

Yee had sought moral damages of $21,500.

[bobcaygeon]

Good ruling!!!!

I'm usually pro-management and was pro-vaccination but I don't see the need for a number cruncher and 11 year employee that's already working remotely to be terminated because they didn't want to be vaccinated.

WestJet's decision to layoff employees during and use contracted CSA's at places like YWG has removed the customer service that used to differentiate them. I didn't think I'd ever say it but the AC agents in YWG are the friendly ones now.

[Me262]

Amount should've been 10x more

[JBI]

Amount should've been 10x more

Non-unionized employees can have their employment terminated at any point. This can be either 'for cause' - the employee did something that reached the threshold for termination, or "without cause" - the employee didn't do anything wrong, the employer just doesn't want them working there anymore. However, if an employer terminates a non-unionized employee "without cause", they have to either give them reasonable notice or pay them severance in lieu of reasonable notice. While there are a number of different factors, the ballpark amount for pay in lieu of notice is about 1 month for every year worked. The Plaintiff had worked for WJ for 11 years and she received 11 months salary. Personally, I think the way in which the termination occurred, with no consideration for reasonable accommodation to allow her to work from home, should have increased the damages awarded, but that would be in the range of a few more months notice, not 10x.

[JustaCanadian]

A BS ruling.

Airline should make accommodation to anyone who wants to work from home. Why can they selectively mandate to some and not other groups of employees. We all started with jobs that are in an “office”, and then because it’s easy to accommodate some, and not others, we can selectively mandate healthcare decisions on some and not the rest? Doesn’t sound very DEI to me.

Regardless this just shows how policy was never logical, it was all about power. Imagine terminating an employee working from home because they refuse a vaccine. The only reason this makes sense is to show you are being “fair”, treating all employees the same. What is fair? Simple solution, leave people TF alone, let them have autonomy in their own health decisions.

[accountant]

Two reasons they would have done this:

1) Massive losses during covid. FInd a reason to cut employees and this was a common way to cull. Whether it was right or not, it was a way to cull staff quickly under the guise of federal mandates.

2) Use of real estate. You're seeing this now with the push by employers for RTO. Companies have these massive piles of unused real estate, and with RTO mandates, many don't want to go back and have to "quit". This is a huge issue in the US, and also a tactic being used to reduce severance costs by avoiding layoffs. Force back to the office - if someone doesn't like it they have to quit.

[JungleRiot]

Looking back, I should have bought more tinfoil