Federal managers paid out more than $500,000 in settlements to employees suspended under vax mandates, records show. The payments were disclosed at the request of Conservative MP Ted Falk (Provencher, Man.) who opposed mandatory vaccination as a breach of Charter rights.

Cabinet in an Inquiry Of Ministry tabled in the Commons detailed payments totaling $509,746 in damages and compensation to employees wrongly denied legitimate exemptions. One employer, the Department of National Defence, compensated three employees with “damages under the Canadian Human Rights Act on grounds of discrimination based on religion,” said the Inquiry.

The figures were tabled at the request of MP Falk who asked, “What are the total expenditures on compensation, severance packages and settlements to employees who were impacted by the government’s requirement during the Covid-19 pandemic that federal public servants provide proof of vaccination?”