Ask your question and an employment lawyer in Ontario, BC or Alberta will answer in minutes
I was terminated by a health authority in the lower mainland as a non-unionized employee in Dec 2021 and had a question regarding their response to me when I was applying for religious exemption from vaccination. At the time the Public Health Office mandated vaccination for anyone working in a hospital setting and the health authority said they enacted the mandates since they had ‘force of law.' What does this mean? They are stating that they could no longer employ me after remaining unvaccinated after mandates since it would be illegal to do so due to my vaccine status and are trying to void themselves of any responsibility with respect to my request for religious exemption. They state that they could not accommodate me (because it would be against the law) or indefinitely put me on unpaid leave (due to undue hardship of their end). What sort of defence can I pursue? What is meant by ‘force of law?’
This likely means that it is your former employer's position that they were legally required to introduce the vaccine mandate. Generally speaking, the best defence to such an argument is that the employer should have placed the individual on an unpaid leave of absence, rather than terminating their employment.