COVID laws and you....
 

I’m curious to know how respective companies are approaching the operational and legal aspects of COVID when visiting hotspots.



Several of my friends and colleagues are being directed to fly in and out of Victoria recently under the guise of essential worker status. The claim being that aircrew are exempt from any of the local state COVID regulations under a blanket document from higher up in the organisation. The problem arises when these aircrew are required, by the company, to obtain their own travel passes and as such carry the entire legal responsibility to comply with what each state decrees, a breach of which could see that crew member prosecuted and fined as an individual.



To add to the minefield, crews are being directed to return from a state with active hotspots, isolate at home and then attend their next rostered duty.



How does your organisation stack up?

If they're worried go get a job stacking shelves at Wollies....

Thank you for that very informative (useless) comment.

Need to be careful with language on this one. Crew do not have a blanket exemption from state regulations. However state regulations do provide crew with certain exemptions to the restrictions required by everyone else.

eg: I’m in iso after an international trip. I can still attend work for my own required training or to commence another trip. The NSW state regulation exempts me from the iso requirements for those reasons only.

Yes, I still need to apply for the various border permits and so on and abide by the respective state regulations. It’s those regulations that contain the exemptions. EG under the WA stuff that was in force throughout September, I would not have been permitted into the state as all were I just seeking to travel there. However as an ‘essential worker’ I was granted an exemption from that prohibition. I then had a bunch of isolation requirements that I needed to adhere to whilst in WA until I left.

So not exempt from the state regulations, just have an exemption from various entry/ iso requirements due to essential worker status.

[instead of believing claims, just read the state directions. Just google “<state name> COVID directions”. Vic is the easiest to find. Aircrew issues are addressed in it.

You should also be familiar with your state’s regs too. There may be requirements that you have to abide by when in the soup that May exempt you from iso. YMMV

With the requirements in WA it has been a real headache, as they change constantly and are very strict. The crew exemptions for WA basically mean you can get into the state but it doesnt necissarily mean you are exempt from quarantine... meaning getting out of base pilots in has been difficult without specific exemptions being sought, and even then it doesnt always work out.

Companies surely must be struggling to keep up with all of the different requirements across the country, but a document from a company doesnt mean squat to state police... a company cant declare themself exempt from quarantine - thats not how the system works (atleast in WA).

The premise of the original post was not how we as individuals deal with it but rather to gauge how (or if) there was a widespread attempt to deceive staff into potentially breaching restrictions.

Yes, but maybe more like coersion than deception.

No coercion or deception at my company. In fact, there is a centralised document outlining all the different restrictions in each state and is updated every time there is a change. Kudos to that person doing the job as they’re on to it very quickly. Makes it very easy to look up and figure out whether a border pass is required, isolation requirements etc. It’s all above board using essential worker exemptions listed by each state and the various controls around those exemptions.

I wouldn't disagree with you there. Advice received over the phone seems to drastically differ to that received in writing.

The entire quarantine/permit/exemption system in Australia is a joke. Its bad enough that every state has different requirements, but every state also has a different permit system to meet every varying requirement, and for added confusion the definitions of pertinent words also varies.

Like most airlines (I assume) it is the individual crews responsibilty to sort out thier own permits etc, however when you combine x number of crew across the company trying to navigate all of the above variables there are inevitable problems.
I realise the company can't spoon feed everyone, however there does appear to be a severe lack of leadership or day to day guidance on the matter where I am.

Surely it should be "here's your flight plan, here's your exemption permits"?

I wish that was the case, alas it's not.

It can be useful to ask for a copy of any claimed exemption.

Soon find out if it exists or not...

Thats how we’ve been operating here in the States. Have electronic copies of the Hawaii exemption that may be asked to show for work or commuting.