‘The plaintiff’s responses to the questions in the accommodation request form and her pastor’s letter clearly demonstrated a subjective, religious objection to vaccination’
WestJet wrongfully dismissed an employee who refused to comply with the airline’s COVID-19 vaccination policy, as the company failed to adequately consider her request for a religious exemption, an Alberta court has ruled.
In a 13 May decision, the Alberta Court of Justice found that Duong Yee, a former accountant with WestJet, was entitled to damages after her employment was terminated for cause in December 2021. Justice A.P. Argento determined that the airline’s refusal to grant her an exemption was not reasonably applied and, as such, WestJet did not have just cause for dismissal.
Yee, who had been employed with WestJet for 11 years, submitted an exemption request in September 2021, citing sincerely held Christian beliefs.
“Based on sincerely held beliefs as a Bible-believing Christian, the vaccine is [a] betrayal of faith to my healer, Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,” Yee stated, according to the court document.
She requested exemption from vaccination, mask mandates, and rapid testing. Yee also provided supporting documentation from her pastor and detailed her religious convictions in the company’s accommodation form.
However, WestJet denied the request, placed her on unpaid leave, and warned that failure to become vaccinated would result in termination.
In 2024, Canada's Federal Court of Appeal dealt with a discrimination case where a federal worker raised novel arguments about COVID-19 vaccination policies.
Yee worked exclusively from home after returning from maternity leave in May 2021 until she was placed on unpaid leave on 1 November 2021.
On 24 November 2021, WestJet reminded Yee by email of her requirement to be fully vaccinated by 30 November 2021. The email warned that non-compliance with the COVID-19 vaccination policy would result in termination for cause, effective 1 December 2021. Yee’s employment was terminated on that date
The Alberta Court of Justice ruled that while the vaccination policy itself was reasonable and in response to federal mandates, the company’s approach to implementing it in this case was flawed. The decision pointed to the worker’s religious belief.
“The accommodation request form effectively prevented the plaintiff from relying on this sincerely held religious belief in support of an exemption once she also expressed a safety concern,” said Argento in the decision.
“Based on the defendant’s denial letter, the plaintiff could not hold both a religious objection and a safety concern. The defendant’s evidence did not explain how or why the plaintiff could not hold both a religious objection and a non-religious objection to vaccination on safety grounds at the same time. It also did not explain why holding a non-religious objection in addition to a religious objection meant the Plaintiff was seeking an accommodation solely on non-religious grounds.”
Argento also noted that WestJet could have allowed Yee to keep working from home as she had for the previous six months.
Yee was awarded 11 months’ salary, totalling $65,587.72. Her claim for moral damage, however, was dismissed due to insufficient evidence of emotional harm caused by the manner of her termination.
Previously, the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled against delivery company Purolator in a case challenging an arbitrator’s decision that required the company to compensate unvaccinated employees who were suspended or terminated due to the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
