The family of a Sudbury firefighter who died in 2022 will see a payout from the City of Greater Sudbury after an arbitrator found the city’s group insurance plan breached its collective agreement with the Sudbury Professional Firefighters Association.
Stating that the chosen group plan was not in keeping with the city’s commitments under the collective agreement, the arbitrator, Eli Gedalof found in an Oct. 24 ruling the insurance was "inconsistent with the obligation” they have to the firefighters union.
That means the city will have to cover what the insurance didn’t: the accidental death claim.
It's not just a first for the city and the union, but potentially for the courts.
“While there is a long line of cases addressing line-of-duty death and accidental death or dismemberment (AD&D) benefits in the fire sector … this is the first case the parties are aware of to address death by suicide,” wrote Gedalof. “It is also the first case between these parties, and indeed the first claim, concerning the AD&D benefit.”
The grievance was filed by the Sudbury Professional Firefighters Association on behalf of Mike Frost, a suppression firefighter who began his career with the City on April 4, 2011.
The court papers state that in September of 2019, Frost took a paid leave of absence due to work-related post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He attempted to go back to work, but he was “unsuccessful,” said the documents. Frost died by suicide on May 19, 2022 at the age of 40.
But as studies in Canada indicate that between 20 and 45 per cent of first responders have PTSD, industry experts argue it should be considered a line-of-duty death. This case may form precedent in that matter.
According to the court decision, “there is no question that the AD&D policy purchased by the City and in effect at the time of the claim did not cover (Frost’s) circumstances as it contained an exclusion from coverage for ‘self-inflicted injures, suicide or attempted suicide, regardless of the state of mind of the insured person’.”
It also contained a one-year time limit that was exceeded in this case, wrote Gedalof.
But that is not the real heart of the case, he wrote.
“The central question in this grievance is whether in purchasing coverage that excludes a recognized work-related cause of death for firefighters, the City has failed to provide the AD&D benefit that it is required to provide under Article 12.01(c) of the Collective Agreement.”
The firefighter association argued that Frost's death “fits squarely within the well-established meaning” of an accidental death and the purpose for which AD&D benefits are bargained, especially in the firefighting.
“The accident in this case is PTSD, a recognized occupational illness for firefighters, and death by suicide was the consequence of that accident.”
The union to the arbitor that PTSD is a recognized occupational illness for firefighters and death by suicide was the consequence of that illness.
The association backed that up with “a long line of cases affirming that in the fire sector, coverage for (accidental death or line-of-duty death) is intended to cover death from the kinds of dangers that firefighters face in their work, including occupational illness,” wrote Gedalof.
The association also argued their grievance is supported “by common law and public policy” like the Workplace Safety and Insurance Act.
Essentially, the city can’t escape its obligation to provide an accidental death benefit by purchasing an insurance policy that excludes coverage for “precisely the kind of work-related deaths that are known to befall firefighters.”
“The policy exclusions are based on outdated and prejudicial conceptions of moral blameworthiness concerning death by suicide that, in the Association’s submission, are not reflected in the terms of the parties’ bargain,” state the documents.
Gedalof decided in favour of the association, finding that the city “breached Article 12 of the Collective Agreement when it failed to purchase an (accidental death) policy that provided coverage in (Frost’s) circumstances. He found the case arbitrable “to the extent that the Association has grieved that the Employer failed to obtain an adequate insurance policy as required by the parties’ bargain. He also found that the Association “did not agree to a blanket exclusion for death by suicide from coverage under the accidental death benefit, or to a one-year time limit,” and that Frost’s death was an “accidental death” within the meaning of Article 12:01(c) of the Collective Agreement, for which the Employer was required to purchase insurance coverage.
Gedalof wrote the City is “therefore liable to compensate the grievor’s estate for the failure to have provided the requisite insurance coverage.”
He then allowed the grievance, noting that the calculation of the sum owing to the grievor’s estate should be decided between the relevant parties, but will remain on the case “in the event the parties cannot agree on this amount.”
First-class firefighter Mike Frost
“Mike was a gentleman,” Sudbury Professional Fire Fighters Association president Mike Squarzolo told Sudbury.com in 2022 after Frost’s funeral service at Church of Christ the King. A full honour firefighter funeral procession made its way through downtown Sudbury; the first for many, Squarzolo said.
Frost, he said, “was polite to a T, he was quietly proud, he enjoyed making people smile,” said Squarzolo of his friend and colleague. “He was a hard-worker, all around a model firefighter by all accounts and we miss him a lot.”
Born in Sudbury on Feb. 9, 1982, Frost went on to graduate from Cambrian College’s Pre-Service Firefighter Education and Training program.
“Mike enjoyed life through the love of his eclectic music choices and would often enjoy “jamming” with his brothers,” it continues. “Mike had a love for animals, having had many different types over the years. He will be dearly missed by the ‘love of his life’, his pup Abby.”
Known for his love of the outdoors, Frost “spent many hours touring the country on his motorcycle with friends,” as well as his love for “simple things in life, like taking in the serenity around a campfire. He loved making people laugh, states his obituary, and “he found comfort in knowing that his humour and smile could bring happiness and joy to those around him.”
Jenny Lamothe covers court for Sudbury.com