Trudeau and the Liberals punished for their stupid covid decisions. Idiots that voted Liberal and supported these idiot politicians are responsible for this.
Federal Employee Suspended for Refusing COVID Vaccine Awarded Back Pay, $5,000
Chandra Philip
1/27/2026|Updated: 1/27/2026
A federal employee placed on leave without pay for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine on religious grounds has been awarded back pay and $5,000 in damages by a labour tribunal.
Mathieu Lemay, a federal employee for 15 years, was working at the department of public safety and emergency preparedness when he was put on leave without pay after his application for vaccine exemption was rejected by his employer, according to a decision by a panel of the Federal Public Sector Labour Relations and Employment Board.
“I have concluded that the grievor is entitled to damages of $5,000 under s. 53(2)(e) of the [Canadian Human Rights Act],” adjudicator Christopher Rootham wrote in the decision, which was first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
Rootham wrote that Lemay was entitled to the damages due to the “pain and suffering” he experienced over the “loss of dignity and self-worth that he incurred by being placed on leave without pay.”
Rootham also said the employer was required to provide backpay for the time Lemay was on leave, including the benefits he would have received if he had remained on the job.
Application for Exemption
The federal government’s vaccination policy for public servants was enacted on Oct. 6, 2021, and required all employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, while allowing accommodations for those who could not be vaccinated due to medical issues, on religious grounds, or “other prohibited ground of discrimination.” Employees were permitted to file attestations to outline why they should be exempt from the policy.
Lemay had sought an exemption from his employer in 2021 on the grounds of proscribed religious discrimination. He wrote in his application for exemption that he was unable to get vaccinated because it contradicted his belief “in God’s superiority over man made creations,” according to the tribunal’s decision.
Lemay added that his faith “dictates that I cannot use medicine, in this case a vaccine, when it is not absolutely necessary to sustain my life, as it shows no faith in God’s power to heal.”
Lemay also said that his employer “perverted the nature of employment” by reducing it to compliance with a policy that he said infringed on his beliefs. “But it is the same beliefs that guided my work ethics and dedication towards modernization of the public service to honor Canadian taxpayers’ fiscal efforts,” he wrote.
He received an email on Oct. 25, 2021, saying his application was still be considered, but was informed on Feb. 17, 2022, that his exemption had been denied. He was given until March 3 to be fully vaccinated or be placed on leave without pay, according to the decision.
Lemay sent an email to his employer on March 4, 2022, asking for a written rationale explaining why his request for accommodation was denied. He also asked for confirmation that the committee recognized his religious reasons were sincere.
He received a response on March 11, 2022, that stated he had not demonstrated how “his religious belief prevented him from complying with the Vaccine Policy.”
Lemay was put on leave without pay on March 18, 2022, and returned to work on June 20, 2022, after the vaccine mandate for federal workers was suspended.
The decision notes that Lemay’s employer argued the pandemic was “highly unusual and involved unprecedented circumstances.” Lemay’s employer had also previously agreed to pay him for his financial losses resulting from being on leave without pay for just over three months..
Rootham said that the evidence Lemay filed “supports that he suffered frustration and disappointment,” which the adjudicator characterized as forms of pain and suffering, as a result of being on leave without pay. |
