WestJet ordered to pay 11 months' salary to accountant fired for refusing to be vaccinated
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In a written decision, Justice Aldo Argento ordered WestJet to pay Duong Yee $65,587.72 in damages, the equivalent of 11 months' salary.
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Yee was dismissed by the airline on Dec. 1, 2021, after the airline ordered all employees to get vaccinated in light of a federal government mandate for all transportation employees. She had claimed a religious exemption, but WestJet refused that application.
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Argento said WestJet could have permitted Yee, then 36, and an 11-year employee of the company, to continue working from home which would not have violated the federal mandate.
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'The plaintiff's refusal to comply with the (company's) vaccination policy did not impact her job performance,' Argento wrote.
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'It did not endanger the defendant's employees or the public as the plaintiff was working from home. While a future, partial return to work was anticipated, that was not yet implemented.'
'The regulations only required the defendant's employees who were physically accessing 'aerodrome property' to be vaccinated. They would not have applied to the plaintiff while she continued to work from home,' Argento said.
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'The defendant was aware of the regulations, but did not consider whether the plaintiff could continue working from home as an alternative to dismissal.'
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Argento said while Yee did not comply with the airline's vaccination policy, there were other measures available besides dismissal in the case.
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'It is significant that dismissal was not the only option available,' he said.
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'Even though the defendant's vaccination policy stipulated that anyone failing to comply would be subject to discipline up to and including termination for cause, the defendant did not have to proceed in this fashion.'
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Argento said Yee had already been working from home for six months and WestJet would not have been required to create a new remote position for her.
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The judge said he did not have to consider whether Yee was the victim of religious discrimination based on the airline's refusal to grant her a vaccination exemption, as he found she was wrongfully terminated.
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