KINGSTOWN, St Vincent:
The High Court on Thursday denied permission for a judicial review of the COVID-19 vaccine mandate in St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG), but the case of workers who were fired for not being vaccinated will still be considered by the court.
Justice Esco Henry said the court should hear the case by former government workers who were dismissed for abandoning their posts, even though the law under which they were fired deemed them as absent if they attended work while being unvaccinated against COVID-19.
Former primary-school teachers Shanile Howe and Novita Roberts; Cavet Thomas, a former senior customs officer; Alfonzo Lyttle, a former assistant supervisor employed with the Customs and Excise Department; Brenton Smith, a former station sergeant of police; and Sylvorne Olliver, a former corporal of police, brought the lawsuit against the government.
Labour rights advocates, the SVG Teachers Union, Public Service Union (PSU), and Police Welfare Association (PWA) sponsored the lawsuits. However, the court ruled that they were not competent to bring a suit in their own names in the proceedings. The ruling struck out those three bodies and the attorney general as parties to this part of the proceedings, specifically the application for leave to seek judicial review.
The judge gave permission for the court to review the legality of the minister of health’s decision to make Rule 8 (1) and (2) of SR&O No. 28 of 202, commonly referred to as the vaccine mandate.
Regulation 8 (1) provides that an unvaccinated employee must not enter the workplace and is to be treated as being absent from duty without leave.