The Employment Department won't say how many federal workers were denied EI for not being vaxxed
'The department is not in a position to accurately represent the number of individuals who were denied Employment Insurance benefits for the sole reason of their COVID-19 vaccine status,' stated the ministry.
COVID-19 vaccination was made mandatory in December 2021 in all federally regulated workplaces, resulting in the layoff or termination of thousands of objecting employees across dozens of sectors.
Federal workers were deemed ineligible for employment insurance benefits, although the exact number of affected remains unclear.
Conservative efforts to put an exact figure on the number of federal workers left without financial support, subject to denial of EI due to their private medical choices, remain thwarted.
Ontario Conservative MP Dean Allison, in an order paper inquiry, asked the Department of Employment, "With regard to the government's COVID-19 vaccine mandates: since August 13, 2021, how many people were denied Employment Insurance benefits for the sole reason of their COVID-19 vaccine status?"
According to the response tabled in the House of Commons by the Department of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, "The department is not in a position to accurately represent the number of individuals who were denied Employment Insurance benefits for the sole reason of their COVID-19 vaccine status."
The ministry blamed a paperwork issue for the inability to properly disclose the number of Canadians who lost their jobs due to workplace discrimination during COVID-19:
"While we have data representing the number of EI claims submitted and denied with the Record of Employment, or ROE, code of M, or terminated, and a comment specifying “non-compliance to employer's mandatory vaccine policy”, the “comment” section is not a mandatory field on the ROE; as a result, it is not possible to provide an accurate count of all EI claims denied for the sole reason of the COVID-19 vaccine status."
Employment Minister Carla Qualtrough told CBC in 2021 that COVID-19 vaccination would be treated as a workplace requirement for some, resulting in a denial of employment insurance (EI) benefits if a worker's employment was terminated.
"It's a condition of employment that hasn't been met," Qualtrough said in an interview with CBC's Power & Politics. "And the employer choosing to terminate someone for that reason would make that person ineligible for EI.
"I can tell you that's the advice I'm getting, and that's the advice I'll move forward with."
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