Witness Testimony

Sabrina McGrath, a store manager with the Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC), testified that she had received a top-performing store award and a model performance appraisal in 2021 prior to the implementation of a vaccine mandate. She stated that NSLC introduced masking, plexiglass barriers, distancing measures, and ultimately a vaccination mandate, which was implemented for existing employees on January 15, 2022. McGrath testified that she declined vaccination and was placed on unpaid leave.
She further stated that when provincial mandates were lifted, NSLC extended its vaccination-related requirements for an additional seven weeks. Although employees were later permitted to return unvaccinated, they were required to complete a vaccination declaration form disclosing their status. McGrath testified that she declined to complete the form due to concerns about disclosure of medical information and was deemed to have resigned from her position in June 2022.
McGrath testified that she applied for Employment Insurance benefits but was denied on the basis of “misconduct,” which Service Canada attributed to failure to comply with the vaccine mandate, despite her Record of Employment listing unpaid leave rather than misconduct. She stated that her union declined to grieve the mandate itself, citing case law, and only pursued a limited grievance related to the seven-week extension period, which was later withdrawn in her case because she was no longer employed. She testified that she wrote to Premier Tim Houston and senior NSLC leadership expressing opposition to mandates but received no substantive response.