Some employees of One Mart Supermarket are outraged over what they are calling an unfair dismissal due to their refusal to take the covid-19 vaccine.
The persons in questioned received a letter penned by Chief Operations Manager , Judith Vanterpool who stated that the decision to sack employees came as an economic ramification of the pandemic.
The correspondence stated “Regretfully, I write to notify you that the company no longer requires your services, effective August 27th, 2021 due to a reduce in operations in business because of economic conditions.”
While the letter did not highlight failure to vaccinate as the premise for dismissal, some of the employees are alleging same.
When questioned by our newsroom on the validity of concerns shared, the establishment stated “At this time One Mart has no comment on the matter.”
The dismissal letter also highlighted that the employees will be paid two weeks remuneration in lieu of notice and 8 days vacation pay.
Premier of the Virgin Islands, Andrew Fahie at a recent press conference noted that while it remains personal choice, businesses get to determine the their terms and conditions on how to operate.
“My position has always been that the government have no intention of making the vaccines mandatory and persons have a right on whether they want to take the vaccine or not.”
“And persons may no like this but businesses also have a right to determine how they want their business to function. So it will never be made mandatory by the government of the Virgin Islands but all entities have their right,” Premier Fahie added on August 27th, 2021.
On July 16th, President and CEO of the One Mart Supermarket group, Mark Vanterpool announced that unvaccinated staff will be able keep their jobs, respecting their decisions not to accept the COVID-19 vaccine at that time.
Vanterpool commented: “Several weeks ago, our Supermarket group adopted a policy of not scheduling unvaccinated employees to work physically at any of our company’s properties. We did so in the interest of our customers, our employees, and our business; however, we have no plans to release those workers on account of non-vaccinations at this time. Instead, our executive team is exploring options for those persons to be assigned other duties or to work remotely within the company.”
He further added: “Our staff members have always been devoted to our company and customers, and we too are devoted to them. Thankfully over 90% (125 persons) of One Mart’s staff is already fully vaccinated or partially vaccinated. Approximately 10% (15 persons) remain unvaccinated for various reasons. I strongly believe that COVID-19 vaccines are the only option to give our business, our people, and our community a fighting chance at defeating this deadly pandemic. However, we fully intend to treat all staff with respect and dignity. We respect their positions, but we still strongly encourage them to be vaccinated unless they have extenuating medical or religious reasons. In the meantime, we will pivot our operations slightly and deploy available technology to allow them to work remotely.”
It remains unclear how many persons were sacked an whether failure to vaccinate was the core reason behind the company’s latest decision.