(LifeSiteNews) –– In a blow to personal medical rights and freedoms, an arbitrator from the province of British Columbia has ruled in favor of an independent company that fired its COVID vaccine-free employees, saying their dismissal was “reasonable.”
Three employees had taken their employer, Technical Safety B.C., in Vancouver, to arbitration on behalf of their union, the British Columbia General Employees’ Union, because they were fired for not complying with a company COVID jab mandate.
In a recent ruling, as noted by Blacklock’s Reporter, arbitrator James Dorsey wrote that in British Columbia, “the message was to stay calm, kind and safe as everyone worked to overcome the effects of the pandemic.”
“When employers considered it appropriate and necessary to adopt a vaccination policy for its employees, they adopted the prevailing community view that vaccines were the best and necessary avenue to overcome the effects of the pandemic and its accompanying restrictions,” wrote Dorsey.
He added, “There were personal, intense and consequential differences about vaccination within families, friendship circles and communities.”
Dorsey dismissed the three employees’ appeal, saying that employers who fired their vaccine-free workers were just going along with the “prevailing community view.”
According to records, Technical Safety B.C. has some 450 workers and claimed a 99 percent COVID jab rate.
The fact of the matter is the three employees were fired despite the fact they worked remotely and did make themselves available to be COVID tested.
Fired employees did not want to take part in ‘experimental’ medical procedures
The province of British Columbia, which is ruled under a socialist-leaning New Democratic Party (NDP) government, had some of the strictest COVID mandates in not only Canada, but the world, from mid-2020 to late 2022. Churches were shuttered for months on end and provincial workers who did not get the COVID shots were either placed on leave or fired.
According to one witness who testified on behalf of the Union, COVID hit everyone, “both the vaccinated and unvaccinated,” adding that “no randomized scientific studies comparing head-to-head the effect of vaccination alone versus alternative precautions.”
One of the ex-employees wrote to management that “We are moving backward” and “sinking in a dark place with vaccine mandates.”
“It’s not about the COVID-19 vaccine being good or bad, it is about imposing an experimental medical procedure on Technical Safety B.C. employees,” the ex-employee noted.
Technical Safety B.C. had given its staff six weeks to show proof that they had the COVID shots. If one went past this date without showing proof, they then faced disciplinary measures. The three employees were fired on January 10, 2022.
According to Dorsey, while the COVID jab mandate was extreme, the misconduct for which the “employees were dismissed was continued noncompliance with the policy.”
“The issue is whether there was just and reasonable cause for each dismissal and whether any was an excessive disciplinary response in the circumstances. This is the real substance of the matter in dispute,” he wrote.
In recent weeks other tribunals in British Columbia have ruled against the COVID vaccine-free.
A few weeks ago, a tribunal in the province ruled in favor of a daycare that kicked out two kids from its facility because they did not have the COVID shots.
Despite the negative outcome of the three employees’ arbitration cases, there have been some pro-freedom court case outcomes concerning COVID mandates in other provinces, and in British Columbia.
Last week, nearly 300 fines given out over COVID regulations against British Columbian freedom fighters were dropped.
At the end of July, a judge from Alberta ruled that politicians violated the province’s health act by making decisions regarding COVID mandates without authorization.
LifeSiteNews reported last week that in light of the above court case, Alberta Crown Prosecutions Service (ACPS) said Albertans currently facing COVID-related charges will likely not face conviction and will have their charges stayed.
Both federal and provincial COVID dictates have resulted in a slew of court challenges on behalf of many people who did not have the shots, arguing that the rules violated an individual’s rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
COVID vaccine mandates split Canadian society. The mRNA shots themselves, approved for use in Canada, have been linked to a multitude of negative and often severe side effects in children.
The jabs also have connections to cell lines derived from aborted babies. As a result of this, many Catholics and other Christians refused to take them.