Firing of B.C. health worker who refused COVID-19 vaccine upheld at arbitration

A health-care worker fired after confirming she had "absolutely" no intention of complying with B.C.'s COVID-19 vaccine mandate has lost a grievance against her former employer.

A health-care worker fired after confirming she had "absolutely" no intention of complying with B.C.'s COVID-19 vaccine mandate has lost a grievance against her former employer.

In a decision this week, a labour arbitrator found Lori Capozzi's steadfast refusal to get vaccinated, despite a provincial order requiring all public health workers to do so, had left Fraser Health with few options but to terminate her employment.

"Clearly, the grievor has the right to make her personal choices, and I accept she strongly believes in her views," arbitrator Koml Kandola wrote.

"However, the result of those choices was that she rendered herself, by virtue of the terms of the order, ineligible to work."

Capozzi had been a substance abuse counsellor for the health authority for seven years when B.C. began mandating vaccination for health-care workers last summer.

The requirement initially only applied to employees in long-term care homes and assisted living facilities, but was soon expanded to include everyone working under the province's six health authorities.

Kandola noted B.C.'s public health order does not require employers to fire unvaccinated workers, and Capozzi's union suggested she could have remained on unpaid leave instead.