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A Canadian court has ruled that WestJet wrongfully fired a Christian employee who requested a COVID vaccine exemption.

Canadian airline WestJet is being ordered to backpay an employee fired for defying the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate. Junior accountant Duong Yee was terminated in December 2021 because the company refused to accept her request for a religious exemption.

Disregarding Yee’s compliance with the company’s policy for accommodation, WestJet rejected her application, arguing that her request wasn’t religious; it was political.

Yee, a Christian, had been with the company for 11 years.

Ruling on the case, Alberta’s Court of Justice found WestJet liable for damages. While Judge Aldo Argento acknowledged the company’s COVID-19 Vaccination Policy to be “reasonable and enforceable,” he said there was more to the story. WestJet’s “denial of Mrs Yee’s religious exemption request and the termination were inextricably linked,” he explained.

The court recalled WestJet rejecting Mrs Yee’s request for a religious exemption on subjective grounds. WestJet doubted her motives and insinuated that she was lying.

“You have written in your application form that you consider the vaccine unsafe,” the company wrote. WestJet went on to argue that Mrs Yee’s opposition to the mandatory vaccine was proof she wasn’t telling the truth. They accused her of “seeking accommodation for secular reasons, not religious” — to which they added, “personal preference is not a Protected Ground”.

Mrs Yee was subsequently fired, even though she had presented a letter written by her pastor, had worked from home, and had fulfilled all of WestJet’s COVID-19 exemption criteria.

WestJet Guilty of ‘Wrongful Termination’

Not buying into WestJet’s COVID defence, Judge Argento ruled in Mrs Yee’s favour. WestJet tried to get the court to shift the legal battle away from the court of justice, claiming the wrongful dismissal case was a human rights matter.

Countering the appeal, Judge Argento said the matter fell within the Civil Claims jurisdiction.

Yee had fulfilled her obligation to “demonstrate her sincerely-held religious beliefs,” which WestJet trivialised.

“Accordingly, WestJet’s failure to seek accommodation solutions for Mrs Yee in favour of terminating her employment constitutes wrongful termination,” he continued.

“WestJet had no justification for terminating Mrs. Yee for cause because it failed to adhere to its duty at law to reasonably accommodate Mrs. Yee.”

Judge Argento then castigated the company for not “giving due regard” to Mrs Yee’s religious beliefs, and for not explaining how her “safety concerns overrode those beliefs.”

Of significance, he added, WestJet never even bothered to ask Mrs Yee for further information or seek to clarify her position.

“WestJet could have requested further information to address its doubts, but chose not to, despite its decision ultimately leading to termination,” he argued.

Judge Argento pointed out that accommodations for Mrs Yee could have been made, such as offering her an indefinite leave of absence, which “would have preserved her employment.”

That never happened.

Although Judge Argento dismissed discrimination as a cause, he did state that the airline company “did not properly consider her religious accommodation request.”

He ruled that WestJet did not have just cause for firing Mrs Yee, and awarded her 66,000 Canadian dollars ($73,000 Australian) or 11 months’ backpay.

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Republished with thanks to Caldron Pool. Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.