AS FAR AS CANADA WAS CONCERNED, A U.S. WORKER WHO CROSSED THE BORDER EVERY DAY WAS EXEMPT FROM COVID-19 RULES THAT FORCED TRAVELLERS TO QUARANTINE AFTER ENTERING THE COUNTRY. HOWEVER, HIS EMPLOYER HAD OTHER IDEAS.
Cross-border employee wins arbitration
The steel worker crossed the border every day, driving from his home in Michigan to his job on the other side of St. Marys River in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. As far as the federal government was concerned, he was exempt from COVID-19 rules that forced other travellers to quarantine after entering Canada.
His employer had other ideas.
Algoma Steel insisted the resident of nearby Sault Ste. Marie, Mich., isolate for two weeks and then stay in Ontario. That was a problem for the dual citizen, who has joint custody of young children living in the U.S. He opted to stay with his kids, a decision that put him out of work for four months.
Then the apprentice machinist grieved Algoma’s policy, triggering a dispute around the coronavirus and international travel that’s unique to the pandemic era.
The case also underscored some of the quirks of the cross-border quarantine rules, which have allowed thousands of American truckers and contractors — one of whom tested positive for COVID-19 — to visit the Canadian steel plant over the same period.
Arbitrator Norm Jesin recently ruled in the machinist’s favour.
“The COVID-19 pandemic presents all of us with extraordinary challenges which are unprecedented,” said Jesin. “In this unusual case, the policy has forced (the machinist) to make the difficult choice of having access to his two young children or to make a living. In my view it was not reasonable to have forced (him) to make this choice.”
The steel worker declined to comment and asked that his name not be published, citing his two children, aged six and 10, and the backlash the case has already caused him.
Algoma CEO Michael Mcquade said in a statement the firm respects the ruling and is abiding by it.
“The arbitrator recognized the company’s obligations and efforts to keep our workplace safe and balanced these against an employee’s right to earn a living,” said
Mcquade. “He sided with the right of the employee to earn a living but provided guidance to keep our workplace safe.”
When the border was “closed” in late March, federal rules required that people entering the country immediately isolate themselves for two weeks. But the cabinet order lists an array of exemptions, including people whose daily routine or jobs require them to traverse the border.
In fact, about 80 per cent of the three million or so entries into Canada since late March have involved people who didn’t have to quarantine.
Algoma implemented its separate policy in consultation with the local public health unit and keeping in mind its obligation to protect employees under Ontario’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, said the arbitrator.
The company has gone to some lengths to keep the plant COVID-19-FREE, with special sanitizing routines and protocols for cross-border visitors. In defending the quarantine requirement for U.s.-based employees, Algoma cited common areas like washrooms and lunchrooms and tools shared by workers, said Vesin.
The worker who filed the grievance was obliged to stay in Michigan, as he had no family there to look after his children, and risked violating a court-ordered custody arrangement with his “combative” ex-partner, said Mark Molinaro, the United Steelworkers local vice president who represented him.
It took weeks to receive employment insurance, causing him such financial hardship that he had to cancel plans for a wedding this fall, said Molinaro.
Despite the company’s position, said the union leader, most employees have no problem with the machinist commuting back and forth every day, given the arrivals from the States they witness regularly — people who don’t quarantine.
“They see that there is about a thousand transport trucks coming into Algoma every month,” said Molinaro. “They see contractors coming in here on a daily basis. In fact, we had a scare a couple of months ago where a salesman was brought into the plant and he met with some people and he was later found to have COVID.”
Meanwhile, the policy has been implemented in unusual ways for others, he said. One worker who lives in Ontario but whose partner goes to work in Michigan every day was required to quarantine for 14 days, then returned to his normal routine even as his spouse continued her international commuting.
The arbitrator said Algoma had a right to implement a policy contrary to the federal rules, but said it should have sought out ways to reasonably accommodate the worker.
The man returned to the payroll July 26, and will take up his job in a “huge” machine shop where employees are spread far apart, said Molinaro.
THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC PRESENTS ALL OF US WITH EXTRAORDINARY CHALLENGES.