Windsor City drops COVID-19 vaccine mandate

The Windsor City Council has announced that it is revoking its policy that required employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as a condition for employment.

Onorio Colucci, Windsor's chief administrative officer, attributed the decision to the city's "better position" amid the pandemic.

"When the city instituted the vaccine mandate it did it to protect staff and save lives during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic. We're obviously in a much better position now with the risk of serious illness to staff significantly reduced so it's time to move forward," Colucci said.

The decision followed a unanimous vote among the council members that favoured the motion raised by Ward 9 Coun. Kieran McKenzie, seeking to revoke the city's vaccine policy.

McKenzie said the city is now at a point where the mandate is "no longer meeting the objectives that it was intended to meet."

"I brought forward the motion for us to revoke that policy in order to allow for the work of our workplace and our community, to frankly to move on," McKenzie said a quoted by CTV News.

The municipal government first announced a COVID-19 vaccination policy in September 2021, which mandated employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by February 2022. A total of 104 non-compliant employees were terminated as a result of the policy, according to the municipal government in August, including 43 full-time and 61 temporary part-time employees.

McKenzie said the city will reach out to these terminated employees to ask whether they're interested in returning to work, CTV reported.

Recalling laid off staff

However, recalling workers might not be as easy as it sounds on paper. Patrick Stepanian, legal manager at Peninsula, previously told HRD that HR leaders need to follow the guidelines under the Employment Standards Act (ESA) when a temporary layoff comes to an end.

How long does a temporary layoff last? Stepanian, citing the ESA, said a layoff can only last:

• not more than 13 weeks of layoff in any period of 20 consecutive weeks
• or more than 13 weeks in any period of 20 consecutive weeks, but less than 35 weeks of layoff in any period of 52 consecutive weeks, only if:
  • the employee continues to receive substantial payments from the employer;
  • or the employer continues to make payments for the benefit of the employee under a legitimate group or employee insurance plan (such as a medical or drug insurance plan) or a legitimate retirement or pension plan;
  • or the employee receives supplementary unemployment benefits;
  • or the employee would be entitled to receive supplementary unemployment benefits but isn't receiving them because they are employed elsewhere;
  • or the employer recalls the employee to work within the time frame approved by the Director of Employment Standards;
  • or the employer recalls the employee within the time frame set out in an agreement with an employee who is not represented by a trade union

"For example, in Ontario, if the employment contract properly uses the ESA's temporary layoff provisions, then an employee who passes either the 13 week or the 35-week temporary layoff scenario limits set under the ESA, then then employer is considered to have terminated the employee's employment," Stepanian previously told HRD.