SVG govt to appeal judge’s ruling in vaccine case
The government of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) will appeal the decision made by a Kingstown court on Monday. The court sided with public employees who had challenged the government’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
Justice Esco Henry ruled on Monday that, among other things, ceasing the duties of public servants under the government’s vaccine mandate was unlawful and unconstitutional.
In response to the decision on Monday morning, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves said that Justice Esco Henry’s decision meant that the applicants had won the case.
However, Gonsalves made it clear that lawyers for the government are quite satisfied that it is likely that this judgment will be overturned in the Court of Appeal.
The judge found that the decision to deem the public servants to have resigned without giving them an opportunity to be heard was ultra vires, procedurally improper, and contrary to the rules of natural justice, and issued certiorari to quash the decisions of the minister, commissioner of police, public service commission, and police service commission, ruling that the public servants never left their jobs.
“We have given instructions to them to appeal; in fact, they have indicated orally that they will appeal. The government is satisfied that its actions were lawful; we were so advised, and this matter is too important for us to just rely on the judgment of one judge in the first instance. “Let’s hear what the Court of Appeal thinks”, Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves says the government is satisfied that its actions saved lives and livelihoods at the height of the pandemic.
Justice Henry, in delivering judgment on Monday, ordered that dismissed public servants be compensated and damages arising out of the agreement be assessed and awarded.
Summary of Judgement
Decisions of the Public Service Commission, the Police Service Commission, and the Commissioner of Police were a breach of natural justice, unlawful, procedurally improper, and void.
All letters issued to the claimants, including letters issued by the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Community College, violated the Constitution.
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.
The crown is liable to the claimants for any damages, including interest of 6 percent per annum.
The claimants sought constitutional relief for what they alleged to be breaches of their pension rights and right to protection from inhuman and degrading treatment arising from what they said was wrongful termination.
Background
Approximately 500 public workers, including 200 teachers, were terminated because they did not take the Covid-19 vaccine or did not declare their immunization status by November 19, 2021, as required.
The government gave front-line workers till November 19, 2021 to receive the Covid-19 vaccination. Workers who missed the vaccination deadline were excluded from the workplace and given 10 days to make a decision, after which they were considered to have quit.
The vaccination mandate was given legal force with the passing of the Public Health 2021 Amendment Bill on August 6, 2021, and the publication of the Public Health (Public Bodies Special Measures) Regulations 2021 Statutory Rule and Order (SR&O).
The claimants were nine former public servants who challenged SR&O No. 28 of 2021, the Public Health (Public Bodies Special Measures) Rules, 2021.
The defendants are the Public Service Commission, Minister of Health, Commissioner of Police, Police Service Commission, and Attorney General.
