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The B.C. Supreme Court refused an appeal by Purolator Monday over its vaccine mandate years ago. The company must now compensate hundreds of unvaccinated employees.

The shipping company claimed staff violated its “safer workplaces policy” in September 2021, entering into full effect the following January. Those who did not comply were placed on unpaid leave.

In November 2022, employees who didn’t confirm their vaccination status were also terminated. 

Purolator has made the decision to terminate all unvaccinated employees.

The federal government continues to allow companies to mandate vaccines for the sake of health in Canada.

Most of these employees work on their own in their vans.

Here is the French and English letters. pic.twitter.com/Z2Iy2689GG

— Alexandra Lavoie (@ThevoiceAlexa) November 27, 2022

Arbitrator Nicholas Glass earlier ruled their vaccine mandate was no longer reasonable after June 30, 2022, over diminished efficacy against the Omnicon variant.

In December of 2023, the labour arbitrator ruled in favour of Purolator staff, who will be compensated for lost wages and benefits from July 1, 2022 to May 1, 2023.

Purolator challenged a claim by Arbitrator Nicholas Glass of economic harm caused by the policy to no avail, reported True North.

Justice Bradford Smith ruled there was “no procedural unfairness to Purolator.” He upheld the decision as justified.

WATCH: Law firm confronts government over vaccine misinformation in landmark legal case

In 2020 the government championed unprecedented lockdowns and societal shuttering while hailing vaccines as the only escape from the pandemic’s grip.

MORE @TamaraUgo: https://t.co/DWqegIcIbM

— Rebel News Canada (@RebelNews_CA) March 7, 2024

“[The arbitrator] found that as of the end of June 2022, circumstances had indeed changed, such that the [vaccination policy], although reasonable when it was implemented, was no longer reasonable after that date,” wrote Smith.

“He concluded that ‘the precautionary principle no longer had any application with respect to protection against infection,’” according to Monday’s decision.

Purolator compelled its workforce to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by January 10, 2022 through April of 2023, reported Todayville.

The Teamsters union, who represents the unvaccinated workers, grieved their terminations before Purolator suddenly dropped its mandate entirely.

Pierre Poilievre puts forward a bill to ban vaccine mandates across the entire federal employment sector.

Making Canada the most free country, he says, "includes bodily autonomy — the freedom to decide what people put in their own bodies."https://t.co/QRmdeFz1IY pic.twitter.com/W2I0dYv6Gk

— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) October 25, 2023

A former B.C. justice minister sided with the legal challenge, calling the mandate “political.” She also expressed shock that staff were fired for noncompliance.

Suzanne Anton, then justice minister from 2013 to 2017, endorsed the ruling against the company — calling it a potential “game changer” for similar suits against other companies.

“It is the first time that a decision maker has gone down this road of, first of all, ordering compensation, that I know of,” she said.