Union Guarantees Fired Unvaccinated Health Workers in BC Will Retain Seniority and Benefits Upon Rehire

July 31, 2024 TruthUSA

A health union and an employer association for British Columbia’s health sector have reached an agreement on conditions for rehiring health care workers terminated for not being vaccinated against COVID-19. These workers will retain their seniority and other benefits if rehired.

The Health Employers Association of BC (HEABC) confirmed reaching an agreement with the Facilities Bargaining Association (FBA) to recognize previous seniority and service for employees terminated due to COVID-19 vaccination requirements. These health professionals became eligible for work after the B.C. government’s recent decision to rescind the vaccination orders.

“Parallel agreements have been offered to all health sector unions,” HEABC Communications Director Roy Thorpe-Dorward said in a July 31 email statement.

Signed on July 29, the agreement ensures that workers rehired into their former positions or comparable roles, or added to the casual registry, will have their seniority recognized as if they had been on unpaid leave, according to a press release from an FBA member union. Sick leave and special leave banks will also be reinstated.

These provisions will be in place for six months, ending on Jan. 27, 2025.

The FBA represents roughly 60,000 health services providers in B.C., including several unions involved in collective bargaining for health care workers. Meanwhile, HEABC negotiates on behalf of public health sector employers in the province.

The B.C. government announced on July 26 the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency and the lifting of the vaccine mandate in health care settings. The province had been under a public health emergency for more than four years, since March 2020, at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Nearly 2,500 health care workers in British Columbia lost their jobs for deciding not to get COVID-19 vaccinations.

With the lifting of the mandates, the B.C. government is now requiring health care workers to disclose their immunization status for various diseases, meaning that the health care workers who lost their jobs will need to disclose their vaccination status to return to work.

“The Province is making it mandatory for health-care workers to disclose their immunization status as a way to help keep people safe,” the B.C. government said on July 26. The government added that collecting these records will enable quick action for unvaccinated health care workers in case of an exposure or future pandemic, including measures like masking, modified duties, or exclusion from work.

In addition to COVID-19 vaccination, health care workers are also required to report whether they have been vaccinated or have previously contracted measles, mumps, rubella, hepatitis B, whooping cough (pertussis), and chickenpox (varicella).

Chandra Philip and Isaac Teo contributed to this report.

Source link