Vaccine mandate appeal hearing slated for May in Antigua

The Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal has rescheduled the hearing for the appeal in the COVID-19 vaccine mandate case, which was initially set for February 1, to May 2. The hearing will take place in Antigua and Barbuda.

The earlier hearing was adjourned because one of the three judges was unavailable to hear the matter.

Since then, the public sector workers who were dismissed under the government’s vaccine mandate have been waiting for the new hearing date.

The High Court had earlier declared the mandate illegal, in response to a case brought by the Public Service Union (PSU), the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers Union (SVGTU), and the Police Welfare Association (PWA), which was ruled in all but one aspect in favor of the claimants.

The government appealed against the ruling, but the hearing was postponed due to the unavailability of one of the judges.

The parties involved in the case were informed on Friday that the hearing of the appeal will take place on May 2, when the Court of Appeal sits in Antigua.

This was confirmed by Jomo Thomas, a lawyer for the claimants, to the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC).

The hearing is scheduled exactly one month after Elroy Boucher, president of the PSU, expressed concerns about the delay in a press conference on April 2.

In her March 2023 ruling, the High Court judge Justice Esso Henry had ordered the government to pay all wages and benefits to the public sector workers who were terminated under the vaccine mandate and awarded punitive damages.

However, the court has granted a stay of execution of the judgment until the hearing of the appeal.