Yahoo Finance Canada asked me whether employers can require their employees to take a vaccine, and whether private businesses can deny service to customers who have not been vaccinated.
The full article is here, written by Alicja Siekierska, where she interviews several employment lawyers. Here’s my brief take right now on these two important questions:
Employers can force employees to get a COVID-19 vaccine.
Whether an employer wants to do it is another question. There are important caveats:
If employees refuse vaccination based on personal preference, employers can terminate their employment but must provide them severance.
If employees refuse because of a reason recognized by human rights law such as the Ontario Human Rights Code, employers cannot terminate them. This would be discrimination.
If the government intervenes and passes a law, employers must follow the law. There are no current laws that prevents a mandatory vaccine.
Companies can require customers to be vaccinated
Similar caveats apply to the first question. If a customer cannot be vaccinated due to a human rights ground (such as religion or disability), a company must accommodate that customer to the point of undue hardship. If there are no legal grounds that a customer cannot be vaccinated, then it would be similar to requiring masks and may be the case of “no shoes, no shirt, no vaccine, no service.”
no shoes, no shirt, no vaccine, no service
In both scenarios, companies should take extra precaution on how they implement any vaccine protocols. We are in an ever-changing landscape regarding COVID-19. Further, some companies may have different considerations regarding COVID-19, including exposure and risks. Therefore, what may be legal for one employer, may be illegal for another.
If you require legal advice on employee or employer obligations regarding COVID-19 in the workplace, please contact Jason Wong. Jason is a Toronto Employment Lawyer practicing exclusively employment, labour, and human rights law. You can contact Jason at jason@wongemploymentlaw.com or 647-242-5961.