The High Court has rejected the Fijian Teachers Association’s legal challenge against the Office of the Attorney-General and the Minister for Employment regarding COVID-19 vaccination mandates. The case was presided over by Civil High Court Judge Justice Dave Tuiqereqere.
The proceedings revolved around the Health and Safety at Work (General Workplace Conditions) (Amendment) Regulation, which was enacted on July 8, 2021, and later repealed in March 2023. Under this regulation, only employees who had received COVID-19 vaccinations were allowed access to the workplace, while unvaccinated individuals faced potential dismissal.
The court noted that the association filed this legal action on August 2, 2021, soon after the regulation’s implementation and prior to the vaccination deadline. Although the association raised this issue before experiencing the full impact of the regulations, many workers, including teachers, lost their jobs due to their decision not to get vaccinated.
The key question was whether the 2021 Regulations were lawful. Justice Tuiqereqere indicated that the defendants argued the case should have been initiated with a motion rather than an originating summons, which the judge acknowledged but determined wasn’t critical to resolve the core issue.
The judge also pointed out that the complaint regarding insufficient evidence about the specific impact on members of the Fijian Teachers Association was valid. Nonetheless, the court noted that the association sought general declarations about the legitimacy of the 2021 Regulations without needing to delve into individual circumstances. It acknowledged that many unvaccinated teachers had indeed lost their jobs, a fact that is widely known.
Justice Tuiqereqere concluded by rejecting the defendants’ claim that the issue was moot due to the repeal of the regulations, stating that the repeal did not reverse the employment consequences faced by the association or its members.