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CUPE Local 4777 files grievance against PAPHR

Nov 1, 2013 | 6:52 AM

The Prince Albert CUPE Local 4777 is moving ahead with a grievance against the Prince Albert Parkland Health Region (PAPHR).

On Sept. 25, vice-president of CUPE Local 4777 Carol Lueken made a presentation to the Prince Albert Parkland Regional Health Authority raising concerns around the PAPHR’s Employee Wellness Support policy, which came into effect Sept. 1.

“They have created a policy which supersede our Collective Agreement and actually are punishing people and not paying them for sick insurance when they actually have sick insurance entitled to them,” Lueken said on Wednesday.

“There’s a whole huge number of breaches in our Collective Agreement, I think there’s four overall, and the employer is not willing to come to the table to negotiate and change their policy to meet our collective agreement, so we’re in the process of grieving that and going through the processes.”

This Wellness policy is part of a program created by the PAPHR on the basis of improving workplace wellness and safety. The Region conducted a survey of 400 employees which showed the biggest item that affects the wellness of a department or facility is absenteeism.

The second-largest item that affected wellness was workload at 44 per cent.

Due to this, the PAPHR put together the new policy which it feels works with staff members to reduce the time away from work and find way to accommodate an employee who may be ill or injured.

But Lueken said this policy violates the CUPE Collective Agreement, citing the way sick notes are being requested from staff goes against their rules. In some cases, Lueken said wages are being withheld from employees after they went on sick leave “and we’ve also got notification from the employer that they have no intention of paying people sick time when they have allotted sick time in their bank for days that they were ill for because they couldn’t get into their doctor on time.”

She said there are problems in the workplace, but “[The PAPHR] is painting all of the employees with the same brush and denying actually benefits to employees and not paying them every two weeks for the wages that they’ve earned. Whether they’ve been sick or not sick they have not been compensating their employees as per our Collective Agreement.”

In the new policy, staff may be required to supply a sick note from the day they were ill, but Lueken said that’s not always possible depending on the circumstance.

“Do I think there needs to be some work? You bet I do. The employer needs to manage the workplace, I realize that, but the employer doesn’t have to and should not paint everybody with the same brush,” she said.

“I’m actually very disappointed in the health region.”

She said she spoke with one of the employees recently and that person said if she doesn’t get her compensation, she’s quitting.

“If this is what they really want, they want the employees leaving the work place and being frustrated and not getting them compensation according to what they have coming to them according to the agreement, they are leaving the workplace,” Lueken said.

According to the survey of the 400 employees, 52 per cent agree workplace wellness initiatives reduce workplace absenteeism. However, 43 per cent were concerned workplace wellness initiatives make employees feel their privacy is being intruded upon.

Cecile Hunt, CEO of the PAPHR, said the Health Authority heard the concerns presented to the board on the Wellness initiative, but they “respectfully would disagree with them.”

“This [policy] is really about where possible, getting individuals back to work where it’s appropriate and where they can function,” Hunt explained about the purpose behind Employee Wellness Support policy.

“We see this as a good initiative reaching out to staff. We require them to make contact, not only with their manager but with our Wellness co-ordinator, and that there is a set of questions that are, you know, discussed with that employee and we look at options,” she said.

“If they have a communicable disease or if they are in pay, of course, there’s some things that are very clear cut and they will continue to be off. But sometimes individuals are recovering from surgery or a variety of other longer-term illnesses and we look to work with that employee on some option to return to work,” she said, adding it’s not necessarily their full position they would return to, but partial.

As for the concerns around the sick notes, Hunt said they don’t always require it from their staff—it depends on what is discussed with the Wellness co-ordinator.

“The note discusses what the individual can do, as opposed to their diagnosis.”

Although there will be no discussion around revisions to the policy that will fit in line with CUPE’s Collective Agreement at this point, Hunt said they will be monitoring the policy’s effectiveness internally.

“We are continuing to evaluate the impact of the policy. We are now, as a senior team, going out and meeting with staff at each program and each site monthly. At the three-month point we’ll re-evaluate what’s working, what’s not working,” she said.

CUPE Local 4777 has forwarded grievances to arbitration, but Lueken said they would be happy to sit down with the Health Authority to discuss a policy that would meet the Agreement.

sstone@panow.com

On Twitter: @sarahstone84