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Former worker in smoky casino wins EI claim
 
By Peter McLaughlin


The Daily News

Friday, May 02, 2003

CREDIT: FILE

 
A federal panel has ruled second-hand smoke posed a health hazard for casino
worker Andrea Skinner.

 
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Andrea Skinner, the blackjack dealer who walked away from her job at Casino
Nova Scotia because of exposure to second-hand smoke, has won her claim for
employment insurance benefits.
A federal EI board of referees ruled yesterday the 30-year-old Halifax woman
had just cause to leave her job.
?There is sufficient evidence to substantiate the hazards of second-hand smoke
in the workplace,? panel chairman Lucien Paul Hebert wrote in granting
Skinner?s appeal.
It?s a decision that could have ramifications for the province?s smoke-free
places law, which has been criticized for not protecting all workers from
second-hand smoke.
Skinner, who quit last December after working seven years at the casino?s smoky
gaming tables, said the ruling is an important one for workplace safety.
?The casino could be a perfectly safe workplace if it was smoke-free,? she
said. ?There?s a lot of smoke, I can tell you from experience. The smoke that
hangs in the place is very thick, and there?s just no getting away from it.?
Skinner, who now works as a part-time clerk at a liquor store, quit the casino,
claiming cigarette smoke was making her ill.
She launched an appeal after Human Resources Development Canada rejected her
claim for benefits in January.
Casino Nova Scotia and HRDC can still appeal the tribunal?s decision.
Casino officials weren?t commenting on the decision yesterday, except to say
that Skinner never expressed concern over her health as the reason for her
resignation.
Premier John Hamm congratulated Skinner on her win, but he said the decision
won?t stop him from pushing ahead with government?s plan to pass legislation
giving cabinet the power to exempt the casino from municipal smoking bylaws.
?I?m always concerned about the environments workers are working in, and we?ll
try to provide the maximum amount of worker protection,? he said.
?On the other hand, we?re dealing with a very, very unusual case because we
have a very, very unusual contract down at the casino, one that seems to
protect the casino far more than it protects anyone else.?
But NDP health critic Maureen MacDonald said the government must do the right
thing by casino workers, as well as others in the hospitality industry, and
abandon its plan to shield the casinos.
?The government is weak-kneed, and they are not prepared to do the right
thing,? she said. ?It is a house of cards; it is slowly falling in on them.
They can?t duck their responsibility with respect to workers in these work
places.?
Danny Hewitt, spokesman for the Nova Scotia Restaurant and Food Services
Association, said the decision will give the anti-smoking lobby more
ammunition, but it won?t mean hospitality workers will suddenly quit in droves.
Most in the restaurant business don?t have the hours to collect EI; nor are
there that many who are constantly exposed to smoke, as casino workers are.
?There will be people out there who will use it as an example against us, but
it really isn?t the same thing. I just can?t see it ever being an issue,?
Hewitt said.
p...@h...ca

Š Copyright  2003 The Daily News