The City of Windsor is rehiring most of the 84 employees who did not comply with the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and were terminated, but the lawsuit against the city continues.
Courtney Betty is the lawyer representing 30 City of Windsor workers taking legal action against the city.
“On one hand, we're pleased that our plaintiffs are going back to work. It's a great way to start the New Year but there are still other issues, such as back pay,” said Betty.
He says his clients suffered serious financial burden as a result of being let go.
“They were cut off at the knees. They were not able to claim any sick days and were denied employment insurance,” said Betty.
He says his clients couldn’t file for EI because they were fired with cause.
“One of our plaintiffs had cancer and his health plan was cut off. Another individual couldn't afford to pay for dental care. Individuals lost their homes,” said Betty.
The employees would like to be compensated by the city for lost income during the period in which they were out of work due to the vaccine policy.
Among the 84 terminated employees, the majority are inside workers represented by CUPE Local 543. Union president Dave Petten says his members have mixed emotions about returning to work.
“There's some excitement there, but there's still a disappointment from members that they actually had to endure this to begin with,” said Petten.
“We felt for a while now that the vaccine policy had outlived its usefulness and we believe these members should have been called back a long time ago.”
Petten wishes the city would have considered other alternatives like an enhanced masking policy or work from home solution before choosing to fire unvaccinated employees.
In total, four Windsor firefighters were let go but are being rehired by the city.
The Windsor Professional Firefighters Association (WPFFA) would like the city to reinstate its members rather than rehire.
According to WPFFA president, Kris Matton, some unvaccinated firefighters in other municipalities were placed on unpaid leave rather than being terminated.
“If you were on unpaid leave like some of the other municipalities, you didn’t make the harsher decisions that our members had to make. They made different decisions with respect to pension,” Matton explained.
“It shouldn’t stay on the record that they were terminated. That can have a negative impact on them for the rest of their career.”
