On February 12th, the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal ruled in favor of the St. Vincent (SVG) government’s decision to institute a COVID vaccine mandate for public servants in 2021. The court, in so doing, overturned Justice Esco Henry’s decision in 2023 that the government vaccine mandate was unconstitutional.
Justice of Appeal Eddy Ventose delivered the judgement of the majority. The decision was split 2-1. Justice of Appeal Wallbank dissented. There was no order as to costs.
The government argued that High Court judge Justice Esco Henry erred when she ruled in March 2023 that the government’s decision to fire the unvaccinated workers breached natural justice, contravened the Constitution, and was unlawful, procedurally improper, and void.
Regulation 8(1) of the SR&O, commonly called the vaccine mandate law, provides that an unvaccinated employee must not enter the workplace and is to be treated as being absent from duty without leave.
Attorney Cara Shillingford-Marsh had asked the Court of Appeal to uphold the judgement of Henry, saying that overturning it would allow the government to do as it wishes in the public service.
She said that the case is about the extent to which the government can force a person to take a drug.
The Public Service Union (PSU), the St Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers’ Union (SVGTU), and the Police Welfare Association (PWA) have sponsored the lawsuit, which brought in the names of “dismissed” public sector workers Shanile Howe, Novita Robert, Cavet Thomas, Alfonzo Lyttle, Brenton Smith, Sylvorne Olliver, Shefflorn Ballantyne, Travis Cumberbatch, and Rohan Giles.
The appellants are the Minister of Health and the Environment, the Public Service Commission, the Commissioner of Police, the Attorney General and the Police Service Commission.
