Who's keeping and who's ditching vaccine mandates as Ontario drops requirement

Ottawa's largest school board says it will be reinstating its 146 employees who were let go because they were unvaccinated. 

It's one of many organizations that are now deciding what to do with the thousands of workers put on unpaid leave over their vaccine status in recent months because of provincial changes.

During a board meeting Monday night, the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board passed a motion to rescind its mandatory COVID-19 vaccines for employees and for visitors — a small minority, Scott said, as 98 per cent of staff are double vaccinated. 

"It will take a little while to get everybody back in place," said board chair Lynn Scott, who said the board plans on putting some people in new positions.

At the Ottawa Catholic School Board, no education workers were let go during the mandates. A spokesperson said unvaccinated workers were allowed to submit a negative rapid antigen test three times a week instead and were required to wear additional protective equipment. 

The board will no longer be asking staff for tests or additional PPE. 

As of Monday, mandatory vaccinations are no longer required by the province in hospital, long-term care homes, schools and child-care settings. The requirement for most other locations was lifted March 1. 

City, police, universities keep vaccine policy for now

The University of Ottawa, along with Carleton, Queen's and many other Ontario universities, will maintain mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policies until the end of the current term.

The City of Ottawa also said it will be keeping its mandatory vaccine policy.

No city employees were terminated when its mandate came into effect on Nov. 15, 2021. When it announced the policy, the city said unvaccinated staff could face a variety of consequences, including taking leave without pay or dismissal.  

The city said 98.5 per cent of full-time active city employees are fully vaccinated. 

There are also no changes to the Ottawa Police Services' vaccine policy.  A police spokesperson told CBC News the "mandate remains." 

Fewer than 10 Ottawa police officers and fewer than 10 civilians with the force have not yet received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. They have been on unpaid leave since Feb. 1.

Both The Ottawa Hospital and CHEO, the children's hospital in eastern Ontario, will continue with their current vaccination policies.

Long-term care homes still requiring vaccines

Many long-term care homes are continuing with the mandates and requiring all staff to have three doses. 

Major long-term care company Extendicare said its mandatory vaccine policy is staying. 

AdvantAge, which represents not-for-profit and municipal long-term care homes, said it's concerned over the province's removal of vaccine mandates. 

The Ontario Long Term Care Association said in a statement that homes are in the process of confirming their vaccine policies now that the provincial directive has ended.

Long-term care homes were hit hard during the first wave of the pandemic. In all, more than 3,700 Ontario long-term care residents died of COVID-19 in 2020.

'No obligation' to laid-off workers, says lawyer 

People who didn't roll up their sleeves for a COVID-19 vaccination might not be asked to return to work even though Ontario has lifted its mandatory vaccination requirement, according to employment lawyer Malini Vijaykumar. 

'There's no legal obligation to bring these people back," Vijaykumar said. 

Vijaykumar, with Nelligan Law, said it's up to employers to decide whether to rehire. 

"As long as the initial termination was lawful, according to the facts at the time, then there's no obligation to bring these people back," Vijaykumar said. 

She said businesses and organizations can still have vaccine policies in place. "It's just that they're no longer required to by a directive of the chief medical officer of health," she said. 

Vijaykumar said employers should also be prepared to bring back or revisit their vaccination policy if mandates should return.