A labour arbitrator has ruled against Fanshawe College’s application of its COVID-19 vaccination policy towards a fully remote worker, Andy Wing.
The dispute arose when Fanshawe College sought to enforce its COVID mandate against Wing, who had been working remotely and had no plans to return to campus or get vaccinated.
Wing was put on unpaid leave from January 3, 2022, to March 7, 2022 for non-compliance with his employer’s policy.
In his challenge against Fanshawe College, Wing was represented by the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) Local 110.
Arbitrator Larry Steinberg ruled on Friday that “the college has not provided sufficiently cogent evidence that its interests in providing education to its students was outweighed in this case by the grievor’s (Wing’s) interest in his bodily integrity.”
Fanshawe College declined to comment on the decision instead of issuing an apology towards Wing.
A remedy towards Wing is yet to be determined between Fanshawe College and OPSEU Local 110.
The arbitrator’s decision also noted a peculiar distinction made by Fanshawe in December 2021, allowing fully online students to declare they would not visit campus, a flexibility not extended to Wing initially.
This ruling does not challenge the entirety of Fanshawe’s vaccination policy but rather addresses the specific circumstances of Wing’s employment.
The Ontario government under Conservative Premier Doug Ford had mandated vaccination policies for all post-secondary institutions in August 2021, leading to Fanshawe announcing its policy a month later.
Class action lawsuit launched against Dr. Bonnie Henry
In November, the United Health Care Workers of BC launched a Class Action lawsuit against Dr. Bonnie Henry, British Columbia’s Provincial Health Officer, asserting that mandatory vaccination orders have resulted in significant harm to unionized health care workers.
The lawsuit contends that Dr. Henry acted without adequate consideration of long-term safety data, specifically citing Pfizer-BioNTech’s Phase 3 clinical trials.
