Virus infected abattoir employee allegedly told by manager it’s just a ‘common cold’

Abattoir staff in Melbourne’s west are suing their bosses for compensation after falling ill with coronavirus. One man said his employer allegedly tried to brush off his illness as just a “common cold”.

A western suburbs man claims he felt pressured to return to work by his abattoir boss despite showing clear coronavirus symptoms. Picture: NRM

Staff at coronavirus-riddled abattoirs in Melbourne’s west are taking legal action to claw back the cost of lost wages and medical bills.

More than 100 staff at JBS abattoirs in Brooklyn, the Australian Lamb Company in Colac, and Somerville Retail Services in Tottenham have contracted the deadly virus.

Thousands of staff have also been forced into quarantine.

One casual inner-west abattoir worker, who didn’t want to be identified in case it jeopardised his WorkCover claim, said he was recently infected with the virus by a production line colleague.

Management failed to tell him when his colleague got sick, he said, and when he started having symptoms himself he said his boss allegedly initially brushed if off as a “cold”.

“When I said I’m sick the agency said it would most likely be a common cold. I was told to rest up and come back to work when I felt better,” the man claimed.

“I (later) got tested and self-isolated at home, several days after getting tested I received a phone call from the hospital telling me I had tested positive.”

The virus had taken a toll on him mentally, physically and financially, and he said he felt he’d been ostracised by family and friends who knew he’d been sick.

He said he now feared going back to work in case he got sick again.

“In my area everyone knows each other. Even after I had recovered and tested negative, I went to the shop and people were treating me like I had a disease,” he said.

Slater and Gordon practice group leader Andrea Kehoe said virus cases at abattoirs had emerged as a global issue during the pandemic.

She said she’d received a number of calls from meat workers in Melbourne’s west including from St Albans, Sunshine, Geelong and Werribee.

Employees who contracted the virus on the job could make a claim for expenses ranging from salary loss to hospital and doctors’ bills, she said.

“Workers can feel obliged to continue working even when they are unwell, especially if they are not permanent staff members,” Ms Kehoe said.

“It’s important that workers understand they can make a workers’ compensation claim if they can establish a link between contracting the virus and their employment. It’s very similar to the legal entitlements you can access if you are injured at work.

“A worker has these entitlements regardless of the nature of their employment, whether employed full time, part time, or casual.”

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