Volume 8 • 2021 • Issue 4

COVIDVaccines: How Can Practice Owners Promote Vaccination Among Staff Members? Could immunization against COVID-19 become a mandatory requirement in workplaces, particularly in health care settings? How should dentists work with their staff members to make their offices as safe as possible while also respecting employees’ privacy, labour and human rights? I n June, Raquel Chisholm—employment and labour law lawyer with Emond Harnden LLP in Ottawa—answered some common questions from dentists about how to approach vaccine hesitancy and other legal matters related to COVID vaccination. Q What labour laws and codes apply to vaccinations and workplaces? Are workplaces legally allowed to mandate vaccination of staff? Raquel Chisholm (RC): Each province and territory has employment standards legislation. In Ontario—and likely most, if not all, other provinces—vaccination is not referenced in them. Occupational health and safety legislation, also provincial and territorial, includes requirements for employers to protect their employees and provide a safe work environment. Again, in Ontario, our statute does not include specific references to vaccination. Dentists should seek advice in other jurisdictions. Most relevant to this question are human rights codes and human rights legislation, because they provide for a person’s right to refuse to get a vaccine, either due to medical or religious reasons. The individual right to refuse medical procedures or treatment is a human right in Canada. No one in my office of approximately 30 employment and labour lawyers has heard of a legal obligation to get vaccinated for COVID (i.e., mandatory vaccination) anywhere in Canada. In Ontario, the provincial government has released legislation requiring that long-term care (LTC) homes have vaccination policies. But that legislation does not include mandatory vaccination. Instead, employees must provide evidence that they’ve received their doses or medical information explaining why they can’t be vaccinated, such as an allergy to a vaccine ingredient. If the employee refuses to provide either, they receive mandatory education about vaccination. Q So employers are actually quite limited in what they can do, from a legal perspective? RC: If you categorize a vaccine as a medical procedure or medical treatment, employers don’t get to decide for their employees. No one can force anyone to get a medical Raquel Chisholm Emond Harnden LLP 19 Issue 4 | 2021 |