Four City of Quesnel employees fired in February 2022 for disobeying the COVID-19 mandatory vaccination policy lost their application for reconsideration.
In a March 31 BC Labour Relations Board (LRB) ruling, Jennifer Glougie and vice-chairs Sherry Shir and Paul Todd upheld an August 2025 LRB decision that their union, CUPE Local 1050, did not breach the section of the Labour Relations Code that prohibits a union from representing members in an arbitrary, discriminatory or bad-faith manner.
After the civic policy was implemented in November 2021, the union filed a grievance.
The four workers were put on involuntary, unpaid leave in January 2022 and fired almost a month later in February 2022.
The union and employer reached a settlement in November 2022, which entitled individual grievors to certain settlement payments if they signed a release document.
The four applicants did not.
“Rather, they sought to challenge the settlement agreement through the union’s internal appeal process,” said the LRB ruling.
The original LRB dismissal found their application was filed more than 28 months after they were aware the union dismissed their appeal and that they were not entitled to attend or participate in the mediation process.
Also, the panel found they did not have “a good arguable case of sufficient merit.”
“Reconsideration is not an opportunity to argue the case before a different panel of the board in hopes of achieving a better outcome,” the LRB said. “Rather, the applicant must show there is a serious question as to the correctness or fairness of the original decision.”
