Staff who didn't comply with vaccine policy won't get jobs back: North Bay hospital CEO

Terminated hospital staff at the North Bay Regional Health Centre won't be coming back to work, the hospital’s CEO said Friday.

Paul Heinrich confirmed that the less than 10 per cent of hospital staff who have failed to meet the vaccination policy won’t be rehired.

“There are numerous immunizations required for staff that work closely with vulnerable patients in our hospital and I don’t see this as any different,” Heinrich told reporters Friday morning. “There are no plans to bring any terminated employees back.”

Last fall, the hospital said staff are required to comply with one of three requirements in relation to the COVID-19 vaccine:

- Be vaccinated for COVID-19 and provide proof of vaccination.

- Where all Health Canada approved COVID-19 vaccines are medically contraindicated, staff must provide written proof of the medical contraindication from their regular qualified medical practitioner.

- Where staff elects not to be vaccinated, or they are unsure of whether they want to be vaccinated, they are required to complete a COVID-19 education program.

Staff with medical exemptions or those required to complete the education program must take an antigen test every seven days.

“The terminations are more about non-compliance with policy,” said Heinrich.

“What concerns me is if the staff won’t comply with a policy in one area, what other areas would they decide to make their own choices about?”

In a statement to CTV News on Friday evening, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents hospital staff, said “discipline and harassment are not appropriate for people who refuse vaccination.”

“Staffing shortages in hospitals and long-term care preceded the pandemic and any vaccination workplace policies," CUPE said.

"Ontario has the fewest staff and hospital beds of any other developed economy. Consequently, workloads are crushing and violence against frontline workers in the health sector is rampant. COVID has fueled healthcare worker burnout and the feeling that the province and health sector employers don’t care about them.”

The union said some staff members can't be vaccinated for medical or religious reasons and that these workers must be protected under the Ontario Human Rights Code.

“All health workers who can be vaccinated, should get vaccinated," the union said.

"Anyone who is not vaccinated must have an employer-provided opportunity to speak confidentially with a medical professional to discuss concerns and to ask questions about the safety of vaccines and the benefits of vaccination for their families, co-workers and those in their care.”

The hospital said last October that it was committed to achieving a 100 per cent vaccination compliance record.