Military vet blindsided by unexpected termination
Shift manager let go before major surgery
“ArcelorMittal had no problem parading me around as a disabled veteran who is a steelworker. I guess this didn’t matter anymore.”
— Christian Peters
After undergoing serious back surgery late last month, Christian Peters is using a walker to get around his home.
“It definitely hurts,” he told me afterward.
One week before the procedure – anterior lumbar interbody fusion – Peters received a formal letter of termination from his employer, ArcelorMittal, effective Aug. 31. On that day, Peters had just returned to his Boone Grove home from a Chicago hospital.
“I thought I would be coming home with my job waiting for me, after a few months of expected rehab, but I guess not,” Peters said. “ArcelorMittal had no problem parading me around as a disabled veteran who is a steelworker. I guess this didn’t matter anymore.”
Peters, 39, served in the U.S. Navy as a petty officer third class and aviation structural mechanic from 2002 to 2007, including a deployment overseas during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Most of his time came with Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron, or HSC-8, the world-famous “Eight-Ballers.” The squadron provided protection to aircraft carriers and air support for ground troops in southern Iraq, among other special operations duties.
“I suffered some injuries, both visible and not,” he told me last month before his surgery.
ArcelorMittal was well aware of Peter’s military background, and his service-related disability.
Two years ago, the world’s leading steel and mining firm boasted about Peters on its website: “On Veterans Day, we proudly salute Christian and all of our employee veterans who served in the military and continue to serve in the reserves, to protect and defend our country. We thank them for their military service and for all they do each day to make the highest quality steel products.”
Peters had worked at ArcelorMittal for nine years as a finishing shift manager at the firm’s Burns Harbor plant, a salaried position, not a union job.
“I was the black sheep shift manager,” Peters said. “I got along really well with the
union workers. In fact, at my wedding I had two tables of union guys but not one manager showed up.”
Peters, who’s married with three children, describes himself as a proud third-generation steelworker. Steel flows through his family’s bloodline, he said. “I’ve had nothing but pride and enthusiasm for working at that mill,” said Peters, who was raised in Chesterton and attended high school in Lansing.
In an ArcelorMittal news release from 2018, Peters stated, “I take great pride in knowing we make steel for our armed forces. I love my country and would serve again in a heartbeat – no questions asked.”
Since he received his termination letter late last month, his questions are endless.
“Why are they doing me so dirty?” he asked.
An ArcelorMittal spokesperson told me, “While we cannot comment on any specific employee, ArcelorMittal USA did undergo a reduction in force in August due to the pandemic’s impact on our core markets.” And, “Employees whose jobs were impacted by the reduction in force were offered severance and continued health care benefits based on their tenure with the company.”
Peters received a severance package letter in the mail. He is exploring his options of hiring of an attorney for legal representation.
“I was hired as a disabled veteran, a protected job class,” Peters said. “I’ve done nothing wrong to deserve this firing.”
He could accept his severance package, keep his mouth shut, and not make any waves.
He sunk that route after sharing his story with me, then a Chicago news station.
“Money comes and goes. I would rather people see and hear what happened to me,” Peters said. “It’s frustrating. I didn’t see this coming when I first scheduled my surgery back in March.”
The invasive procedure, performed through his abdomen, was canceled due to the pandemic.
“So I had to wait without returning to work,” Peters said. “Doctor’s orders.”
Peters was previously placed on short-term disability through the Family and Medical Leave Act. The steel mill hired a new shift manager, who Peters trained.
“There was a plan for me to return to my job after I recovered,” he said.
Then the public health crisis infected his plans.
“My boss asked me to cancel my sick leave and return to work. But I was afraid of canceling because I wasn’t assured of a surgery date and I didn’t want to go through the whole process again,” he said. “I guarantee if I canceled my sick leave like my boss wanted, none of this would have happened. But I was in a lot of pain. And I already had put off the spinal fusion for as long as I could because of my age.”
“ArcelorMittal is using COVID-19 as an excuse, but the new shift manager who replaced me is still there so the job position is obviously still available,” Peters said. “I feel like I’m getting a bad deal here.”
On Veterans Day last year, Peters’ life was sailing along. He shared two of his favorite subjects – serving his country and steelmaking – with young, appreciative students at his son’s school. You could hear the pride in his voice through a video recording of the event.
(Watch a video on my Facebook page, www.facebook.com/jerryrdavich.)
As Veterans Day 2020 approaches, Peters feels torpedoed by circumstances he couldn’t navigate around.
“I feel embarrassed and I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Peters said with a sigh. “It definitely hurts.”