AIC awarded costs in vax-or-test ruling
Published:Wednesday | November 24, 2021 | 12:12 AM
AIC Jamaica Limited has been awarded costs by the Supreme Court after the company was hauled before the court by employees who initially sought a ruling on their employer’s COVID-19 vaccinate-or-test policy.
The Gleaner understands that the written judgment is expected to be delivered in a matter of days.
The initial focus of the court challenge shifted last Friday when the workers withdrew their application for the court to grant an injunction against the company’s mandate.
“Since the defendant has changed its vaccination policy, we now wish to withdraw our application for an injunction, as there is no more need for an injunction,” the claimants said in documents filed in the Supreme Court.
Attorney-at-law Conrad George of the law firm Hart Muirhead Fatta, who is representing AIC, told The Gleaner on Sunday that the case brought by the claimants was “misconceived” and that was the reason why they asked that the injunction be withdrawn.
However, Hadrian Christie, attorney-at-law representing the claimants, said on Sunday that AIC changed its policy in the middle of the court matter, causing the application for injunction to be no longer relevant.
But George countered, saying that the AIC adopted the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica/Joint Confederation of Trade Unions protocols long before the workers applied to the court for an injunction against the company.
Christie, however, had maintained that AIC adjusted its vaccinate-or-test policy after the claimants filed court documents.