City council candidate Paul Serup has every right to be furious with the City of Prince George.
In interviews and at public forums, Serup raised the issue of city employees who lost their jobs due to the city’s COVID-19 mandate requiring all employees to be vaccinated.
When the Citizen asked the city to clarify its policy, a spokesperson said in an email that “no employees have had their employment terminated by the employer for refusal to comply with the vaccine mandate.” In other words, the City of Prince George said Serup was incorrect.
Turns out the city statement is literally a half-truth. What it should have said is “no employees have had their employment terminated YET.”
After the Citizen posted its story about the city’s mandate policy, multiple unvaccinated City of Prince George employees reached to say they had been placed on unpaid leave without benefits. Several of them provided the Citizen with copies of letters sent to them from the city's human resources department.
"Your decision not to comply with the rule means you are no longer eligible to be actively at work and have essentially become disqualified to perform your duties," the letters say.
The employees were given until March 14, 2022, to provide proof they had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine to maintain their right to hold their positions at the city.
"After that date, the City will begin the process of posting and filling your job," the letters say. "You will remain as an employee on leave of absence until such time as you become qualified to return to work."
The city's agreement with CUPE allows employees to remain on a leave of absence for a maximum of 12 months, the letters add, "after which time your employment will terminate."
Saying nobody has lost their job for refusing to abide by the city’s mandate policy is technically true. But not mentioning that city employees are on unpaid leave, the vacant jobs were posted and then filled, and the employees who remain unvaccinated will be fired early next year is wrong. That’s important and essential information that puts the city’s policy in a much clearer light.
Regardless of how voters may feel about Serup’s politics or about the choices made by unvaccinated city employees, that’s irrelevant here.
The City of Prince George responded with misinformation to the Citizen’s request to clarify the city’s vaccine mandate policy.
That’s not fair to us at the Citizen, but it’s especially unfair to Serup and to Prince George voters.
Editor-in-chief Neil Godbout
