Posted at 12:00 p.m.
Since the start of the pandemic, governments have been there to financially support companies that have been strongly impacted by the application of various health rules. Forced closures, distancing, reduced capacity and the obligation to wear a mask have affected the smooth running of their operations.
Quebec employers have been very cooperative and have invested time and money to fight COVID-19. The business community has also mobilized strongly, and is doing so again, in order to offer vaccination clinics in companies.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE FCCQ
Charles Milliard, President and CEO, Federation of Quebec Chambers of Commerce
The imposition of compulsory vaccination for the entire population does not seem to us to be the best approach in the current context. The sum of private initiatives and collective measures, combined with the widest possible vaccination coverage, will allow us to overcome this pandemic. However, employers must have the means to ensure safe working environments.
Both François Legault and Justin Trudeau have repeatedly urged companies to request the vaccination of their employees. Yet current legislation is unclear as to an employer’s right to require mandatory vaccination of its employees, and it is even less certain that such a requirement would pass the test of the courts.
The Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Solidarity, Jean Boulet, himself acknowledged that the employers who did so were navigating in the gray zone. Several cases relating to the imposition of vaccination in the workplace are currently being heard by the Administrative Labor Tribunal. It should also be remembered that the Government of Quebec has backtracked after having required it by decree in the health sector.
It is high time to put an end to this ambiguity and to confirm by the adoption of a clear law the right of employers to require vaccination from their employees.
Those who make this choice in order to reassure their customers, partners or employees should not risk legal action. It is the government’s responsibility to ensure consistency and legitimacy in vaccination requirements.
Employers have a legal obligation to protect their employees and customers. Not only can they not require their employees to be adequately protected against the virus, but they only have very limited access to rapid tests, have no access to screening tests and have a panoply of obligations related to the pandemic. We must very quickly remedy this untenable situation, which adds to the problems of labor shortages.
It is also becoming increasingly clear that COVID-19 will be in our lives for many years to come and we will have to learn to live with it. It is important to equip ourselves with the tools and infrastructures that will allow us to deal with it in the long term. In particular, we need to substantially increase the capacity of our health care system when we already foresee major challenges due to the aging of the population. By giving a solid legal basis to Quebec employers who wish to require the vaccination of their employees, the Government of Quebec would be making a strong gesture. The current vagueness serves no one, it is time to collectively give us the means to act in the interest of public health.