The City of Richmond ended their covid restrictions as of April 8 the same date the provincial vaccine passport mandates were lifted.
The City mentioned with the lifting of provincial COVID-19 restrictions they have ended their requirement for proof of vaccination for entry to City-operated facilities on Friday, April 8.
According to the City they reached a a mediated agreement in late-March regarding pay for workers who did not comply with the City’s requirement for employee COVID-19 vaccination.
The City required staff to confirm proof of COVID-19 vaccination by December 20, 2021 or be be punished with unpaid leave at that time.
The city insists almost 99 per cent of staff is vaccinated including all members of Council.
“The unions issued a grievance over the employee vaccination requirement. However, no grievance arbitration hearing took place as the matter was resolved through mediation with the assistance of a mutually-agreed arbitrator before any hearing began. It was same arbitrator who ruled in December 2021 that the City’s vaccine requirement for employees was legal and permissible.” wrote the city.
Fortunately the employees which were place on unpaid leave were back to work on April 8 returning to their original positions and have a chance to recover lost pay back dated.
The mediated agreement allowed those employees on unpaid leave due to non-compliance to return to work prior to April 8. The mediator established February 21 as the date those individuals would receive backdated pay for time lost and would need to speak to the rationale for any of their decisions. The unvaccinated employees have now returned to their original positions.
About the COVID-19 vaccine for City of Richmond
The covid-19 vaccine mandate became effective on December 20, 2021.
All employees were required to submit proof of vaccination to Human Resources before entering the workplace. According to the cities Policy. Testing was never an option.
The City of Richmond imposed the COVID-19 vaccine policy on their staff because apparently “vaccination is a key element in the protection of City employees against the transmission of COVID-19”
Consequences of non-compliant employees were financially destroyed being placed on unpaid leave or were forced to drain their paid vacation hours to support their family because the city didn’t allow them to work.
