City of Windsor to bring back dozens of workers previously fired for not disclosing vaccination status

The City of Windsor is offering to hire back workers who were terminated for not disclosing their vaccination status, according to the city’s human resources director.

Roughly 100 workers were identified last January as either refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as per the city’s policy, or refusing to indicate their vaccine status. The city said 84 workers were ultimately dismissed.

In November 2022, council unanimously passed a resolution to revoke its vaccine mandate, clearing the way to hire workers back.

In December, the city reached out to 67 staff members, including 21 full-time workers and began initiating conversations with their unions to have the employees return to work.

Of those asked to return, 18 have accepted. Five are in active discussions and four have declined, according to Paladino, who says the offer letters are open until Jan. 11, 2023. These workers will be re-hired with their seniority intact and engage in a “bumping” process, said Paladino.

“They have been offered to return to their old position that they held prior to termination,” said Paladino. “Should they choose to exercise that option, and if their department can absorb them, meaning that the position wasn’t filled or maybe there’s multiple openings for that same position, then great, they can go back into that same position.”

“If the position was filled and there are no similar openings for a similar position, then they would go back to that position and the incumbent that’s currently in it would go through a bumping process that’s outlined in the collective agreement based on their seniority,” said Paladino, noting it could create a bit of a domino effect in the corporation.

Paladino confirms no existing employees will lose their jobs due to that bumping process.

Of those fired, 17 have not been offered a return to work for various reasons, including some with outstanding grievances against the city, others whose roles were filled and are not part of the collective agreement, as well as others unrelated to their vaccine status, said Paladino.

Paladino tells CTV Windsor some of the employees who have been made offers to return are currently involved in either arbitration or a lawsuit against the city, noting the lawsuit is proceeding and is currently in its very early stages.

“At this point, we thought maybe with the offers back that would have some effect on the lawsuit, or whether or not they wanted to proceed with it, but as far as I know, the plaintiffs are proceeding so we will defend accordingly and see it through,” she said.