· CBC News ·
A B.C. labour arbitrator has upheld the firing of a substance use counsellor who refused to comply with an order requiring health authority employees to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
According to the decision, Lori Capozzi had worked for the Fraser Health Authority for seven years and had a discipline-free record when she was fired last November after “multiple notifications” about the vaccine requirement.
Arbitrator Koml Kandola said the case was “not about the validity of the Hospital and Community Order” mandating vaccination for health-care workers, nor about “the benefits or drawbacks of vaccination.”
Instead, Kandola said the question was whether the health authority had reasonable grounds to terminate an employee given the context of an order from B.C.’s provincial health officer (PHO) imposing new rules.
“There is no dispute that [Capozzi] advised she will not get vaccinated and has no intention of ever doing so. There is no exemption available to her under the Order,” Kandola wrote.
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