CFIB offers guidance on vaccine policy

The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses has made a new resource document available to members to assist them in developing a policy regarding COVID vaccination for staff. The template is not intended to provide a framework for mandating vaccines for customers or staff, and the CFIB explicitly recommends against doing so in its release.

CFIB announcement follows:

Our members are frequently contacting our Business Advisors about vaccination in their workplace. We are pleased to share our new Vaccination Policy template that we developed in collaboration with lawyers from Sherrard Kuzz LLP. It’s a detailed resource to help you discuss vaccination issues with your staff – without spending thousands on professional counselling.

As vaccination is a complex topic, this policy can help you have this conversation sensitively and implement the right health and safety protocols for your business. It doesn’t mandate vaccination for your employees, but rather outlines your expectations as well as the employee’s rights.

As a rule, CFIB does not comment or advocate on media issues. However, considering the many legal issues involved (Health & Safety, Human Rights, Privacy and Employment and Labour Relations), we felt it important to give you this tool to mitigate risks to your business and avoid fines, lawsuits and/or forced closures. CFIB recommends that you use caution in considering any policy that would require employees or customers to be vaccinated. As governments themselves are reluctant to mandate vaccines in settings like hospitals, a small business could face an expensive human rights or privacy-related lawsuit if it were to implement one.

You can find it in our members-exclusive Resource Library that houses a variety of templates and documents every business owner should have, including:

• *New* Vaccination Policy
• Drug and Alcohol Policy
• Employee Handbook
• Social Media Policy
• Anti-Harassment and Anti-Bullying Policies