By Admin. Updated 7:23 p.m., Wednesday, February 12, 2025, Atlantic Standard Time (GMT-4).
“It’s a solemn day,” is how the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP) described the response to the Court of Appeal’s February 12 ruling on the vaccine mandate case.
In a press release, the NDP said it is extremely disappointed with the February 12th verdict by the Court of Appeal which overturned the High Court decision and upheld the government’s position on the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“This is a sad outcome for the hardworking public servants, teachers, nurses, doctors and police officers of St. Vincent and the Grenadines who lost their jobs because of the government’s vaccine mandate. Today is not the time for the government to gloat; it is a solemn day. Lives and livelihoods have been irreparably damaged by the government’s vaccine mandate policy. However, as the Court of Appeal has ruled in the government’s favour, the policy continues,” the press release stated.
The NDP said it believes that every worker deserves the right to choose what is best for their health without losing their job.
“We stand in solidarity with those who have been affected by this mandate and will continue to advocate for their interests. Time and again, the government was given the opportunity to do the right thing but failed to do so.
“Notwithstanding the Court’s ruling, we call on Prime Minister Gonsalves and his government to end the hardship of the affected workers by reinstating them immediately with full benefits,” the release stated.
“Further, we wish to reiterate our Party’s commitment that an NDP government would reinstate all affected workers with all benefits intact. We are committed to creating a fair and just workplace for everyone,” the release added.
The government says teachers and other public servants were offered the opportunity to return to work and many of them have been working.
But while many affected persons have returned to their jobs, scores of them are still without employment, some of whom are reportedly facing hardships.
In its judgment today, two out of three Court of Appeal judges ruled in favour of the government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, essentially reversing the High Court’s March 13, 2023, judgement, made by Justice Esco Henry that, among other things, that the decisions of the Public Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, and the Commissioner of Police under the government’s Statutory Rules and Orders No. 28 of 2021 (known as the vaccine mandate) were a breach of natural justice, unlawful, procedurally improper, and void.
Scores of public sector workers had lost their jobs for failing to take a Covid-19 vaccine which the government had argued was a necessary step during the 2021 Covid-19 pandemic to protect public health and safety among certain categories of workers it had deemed to be frontline workers.
Part of the March 13, 2023, High Court ruling by Justice Esco Henry stated that none of the claimants ceased to hold the public offices to which they had been appointed and held at the relevant times, and they remain entitled to all their full pay and benefits due and payable to them, including pensions.
After her March 13, 2023 ruling several workers affected by the SR&O No. 28 of 2021, known as the vaccine mandate showed up for work.
But the government appealed the ruling and applied for a stay of the execution of the order of the High Court so as to wait until the decision of the Court of Appeal is made before any action on the judgement could be taken.
The application for a stay was made jointly on behalf of the appellants – The Minister of Health and the Environment, The Public Service Commission, The Commissioner of Police, and Attorney General, and the Police Service Commission.
The April 18, 2023 High Court Ruling:
On April 18, the Court of Appeal ordered that application for a stay of the High Court’s judgement be granted, pending the hearing and determination of the appeal.
After the application for stay was ruled upon, the Court of Appeal heard the vaccine mandate case, but reserved its ruling.
REACTIONS TO THE COURT OF APPEAL’S RULING
Several worker’s unions expressed their disappointment with the Court of Appeal’s ruling.
Mr. Jomo Thomas, one of the lawyers representing the affected parties said today in a press release:
One of the lawyers representing public sector workers affected by the 2021 vaccine mandate stated that options, including an appeal to the Privy Council, will be explored following the government’s victory in the Court of Appeal.
The London-based Privy Council is the final appellate court in our jurisprudence.
Lawyer Jomo Thomas noted that the Court of Appeal issued a 2:1 majority decision today, allowing the government’s appeal in the vaccine case concerning Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
“A powerful dissent was written by Justice Wallbank, who maintained that the Government’s decision to impose a vaccine mandate on certain public officers was unlawful and unconstitutional,” Mr. Thomas said.
“The Prime Minister and Minister of Health changed the definition of ‘abandonment’ when they made regulations which prohibited unvaccinated persons from entering the workplace and which deemed them to have abandoned their jobs thus affecting their pension rights,” Mr. Thomas said.
The lawyer representing the affected workers said, “The legal team for the dismissed workers is disappointed in the majority decision delivered by Justices of Appeal Ventose and Webster. We believe that Justice Wallbank was correct in his dissent and that the High Court decision issued by Justice Henry was strongly grounded in a correct interpretation of the law”.
“We will read and study the judgment to gain a better appreciation of all of the views expressed in the decision. Thereafter, we will discuss with our clients all available options, including an appeal to the Privy Council, and will take the necessary action,” he added.
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