Scotlynn Farms, based in Vittoria, Ontario, has pleaded guilty to the death by COVID-19 of one of its workers. It is the first COVID-19 prosecution of an employer under the occupational safety and health laws of the province.
Scotlynn Farms has agreed to pay a $ 125,000 fine, plus $ 31,250 for court costs.
The Norfolk County Farm faced 27 charges under the Ontario Reopening Act and the Ontario Occupational Safety and Health Act. Seven of them won against Scotlynn Sweetpac Growers Inc. in April 2021, and 20 more positions were added in September 2021. These new positions were split between Scotlynn Group and its chairman and CEO Scott Biddle.
The court documents said the company “did not take reasonable precautions to ensure that alternative measures, such as the use of masks or masquerades and / or barriers, were taken when workers did not maintain a physical distance from at least two meters with the others “. to protect workers from transmission of COVID-19 to the workplace. “
The documents also alleged that Scotlynn “did not take reasonable precautions to provide field workers with reasonable access to hand hygiene facilities and / or hand hygiene products” and did not “take the precaution”. reasonable to ensure that people who have a higher probability. ” COVID-19 transmission systems were identified and excluded from the workplace. “
DEATH IN SCOTLYNN FARMS
More than 200 farm workers tested positive for COVID-19 between May and June 2020.
One of them, Juan López Chaparro, died of the disease. The father of four, 55, died at a London hospital on June 20, 2020. For a decade, Chaparro had traveled from Mexico to Canada to work to support his family at home.
Chaparro’s roommate Luis Gabriel Flores also contracted COVID-19 while working at Scotlynn Farms. He was fired after speaking publicly about the outbreak management by his employer and the conditions on the farm.
“The situation created the perfect conditions for the COVID-19 outbreak that made us sick,” he told CTV News on July 30, 2020.
Flores said the Scotlynn group did not act when workers began to show symptoms of the disease and only took the situation seriously when workers called an ambulance for a sick employee.
He also alleged that the founder of the company threatened to deport him for talking to the media.
Scott Biddle told CTV News in July 2020 that the allegations were false, but declined an interview on camera.
In November 2020, the Labor Relations Board ruled that Scotlynn Sweetpac Growers Inc. he broke the law when he fired Flores. The company was ordered to pay him $ 25,000.
Flores obtained a single vulnerable worker permit after speaking, but was unable to renew it, so he was forced to return to Mexico.
PROTECTION OF MIGRANT WORKERS
Migrant Workers Alliance for Change, an organization that advocates for worker justice and immigration, is calling for more to be done to protect migrant workers in Canada.
“While Scotlynn receives a slap in the face, this kind of working conditions are still common across the country because migrants can only come to Canada with precarious and vulnerable immigration status,” said CEO Syed Hussan in a press release. “Canada has not been able to protect the migrant workers who fed and cared for us during the pandemic. The only way to establish justice is to support equal rights for migrants by granting permanent residence so that they can defend themselves. “On the other hand, Canada has made it easier for employers to hire more precarious and temporary migrants.”
He added that the fine paid by Scotlynn Farms will not be paid to the family of Juan López Chaparro.
“The fine will go to the municipality, but the family of Juan, Gabriel and other workers will not receive any reparations; no justice is done here.”
In December 2021, the Auditor General of Canada released a report showing that the federal government did not ensure that agricultural producers adequately protected migrant workers from COVID-19.
At the time of the report, the Migrant Workers Alliance for Change stated that six temporary foreign workers had already died from the disease, although they believed the actual number was higher.
The Liberal government has pledged to enact new requirements for agricultural producers, including adequate accommodation for quarantine migrant workers. While Canada’s Employment and Social Development inspectors said almost all farms were complying with these regulations, the auditor general said most were not properly inspected.
“We found that the department assessed almost all employers as complying with the requirements of COVID-19, despite having gathered little or no evidence to prove it,” the report says.
Inspectors, he added, had evidence to suggest that employers were violating the requirements, but “there was no evidence that the department challenged or followed up with employers. The department still found employers to comply.”
MORE: Fed does not guarantee farms protect COVID-19 migrant workers: Auditor General
The report also indicated that officials were slow or did not properly inspect the facilities where outbreaks occurred.