COVID-19: Deadline for Certain BC Healthcare Workers to Get Vaccinated or Lose Their Jobs

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A company that operates five long-term care homes in BC expects to issue layoff notices Tuesday to five employees who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, according to the CEO of H&H Total Care Services.

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Five other employees chose to resign in the two weeks since the province issued a health order requiring all workers in long-term care and assisted living homes to have at least one COVID vaccine by Oct. 26. The order was later expanded to include all workers. in the acute care system, including hospitals, with a final deadline for vaccination two weeks later.

H&H employs about 625 workers in its five BC homes, including Hamlets in Duncan and Hamlets on Westside in Kamloops, so the 10 workers represent less than one percent of its workforce.

“When the mandate came out, we were pushing 20 percent” or 125 workers, CEO Hendrik Van Ryk said. “We have had a significant improvement (in the number of vaccinated) in the last two weeks.”

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He said that those who resisted vaccination and only agreed to get vaccinated to keep their jobs, “are not happy. … (But) they loved being in health care. “

It will be difficult to replace the 10 employees who will leave due to the widespread shortage of healthcare workers. H&H may have to limit customer admissions, Van Ryk said.

Mike Klassen, a spokesman for the BC Care Providers Association, could not say Monday to what extent termination notices were issued at other nursing homes in BC, but acknowledged that the homes were struggling with staffing levels. “This has been a challenge for many of our members and has added additional overtime and pressure on the workforce.”

The provincial health ministry said Monday that three percent of all health workers, excluding those in direct-care long-term care homes, are not vaccinated. The percentages range from a maximum of five percent in Salud Interior and four percent in Salud del Norte to a minimum of one percent in Providence Health Care. Two percent of workers at Fraser Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver Island Health and the Provincial Health Services Authority were not vaccinated, the ministry said.

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Fully vaccinated healthcare workers averaged 94 percent across all health authorities, from a low of 90 percent in Salud Interior and 92 percent in Salud del Norte to a high of 97 percent in Providence Health Care. Workers at Fraser Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, Vancouver Island Health and the Provincial Health Services Authority were vaccinated between 95 and 96 percent, according to the Ministry of Health.

Workers who chose not to get vaccinated without a valid reason were told by their own union, the Hospital Employees Union, that they faced “definite employment consequences.”

Spokesman Mike Old said the union has an obligation to support its members and would review any complaint on merit, and that “anyone can go to the BC Human Rights Court” with a complaint. But he admitted that the chances of getting a decision in court are slim.

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Old said the law requires assisted living and long-term homes to ensure that all workers are vaccinated. Workers will have the opportunity to apply for medical exemptions, but the conditions for them are strict, he added.

Intensive care workers are due to get vaccinated on Tuesday, but they have another two weeks to comply before being laid off.

The same percentage, about four percent, of intensive care workers refused vaccination. The BC Nurses Union has been encouraging its members to get vaccinated, but fell short of supporting mandatory vaccination.

The BC Health Employers Association said workers who refuse vaccination “as of the applicable date (October 12 for long-term care and assisted living, and October 26 for acute and community-based cases) must be licensed. without pay for a period of two weeks, during which the employer will contact the individual worker to discuss their intentions and offer their support to get vaccinated, “said a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Health in an email.

“If, at the end of the two weeks, the worker has still refused vaccination, he will be issued a termination letter in accordance with the collective agreement requirements associated with that action,” he said. “Specific circumstances for individual workers may vary and employers are expected to exercise judgment in applying these guidelines.”

The ministry “anticipates that most of the complaints will arise in relation to cases where dismissal letters are issued (which would likely start later this week),” he said.

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