FPSLREB Decisions

The vaccine policy required that employees become vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus, subject to accommodation on human rights grounds. The grievor requested accommodation based on her religious beliefs. The employer denied her request. The Board assessed her claim in accordance with the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Syndicat Northcrest v. Amselem, 2004 SCC 47, as follows: (1) the individual has a practice or belief that has a nexus with religion, and (2) they are sincere in their belief. It concluded that the grievor’s sincere beliefs did not have a nexus with religion. While the grievor sincerely believed that she should not be vaccinated, most of her statements about that belief were clearly secular and not religious, including that the vaccine was made by corrupt people, that it had harmed its recipients, that it was not traditional, that it had “sadness and sickness associated with it”, that she prioritizes her health, that she did not believe that pharmaceuticals were the way out of the pandemic, and that people could become sick after being vaccinated. Her two beliefs that were closest to having a nexus with religion were (1) that her faith required her to follow her conscience, and (2) her belief with respect to COVID-19 vaccines and DNA and RNA. The first was a conscientious objection, not religious, and arbitrators have rejected similar claims by other employees. The second was a secular belief. Three previous cases characterized the belief that COVID-19 vaccines modify DNA as secular, not religious. Further, the grievor’s beliefs with respect to the mRNA vaccine could not explain her refusal to be vaccinated, as the vaccine policy did not require her to take an mRNA vaccine; it permitted receiving non-mRNA vaccines.

Grievance denied.