Health network employees infected with COVID-19 often have to pay for their quarantine themselves, as they cannot prove that they contracted the disease at their workplace. This directive introduced for the fifth wave does nothing to help the retention of staff in an already weakened system of 12,000 workers.
“Everyone I know who has had COVID-19 in the last month is in the same situation,” says the Duty Benoît, a social worker from Longueuil who wishes to conceal his real name so as not to draw attention to himself. Having recently received a positive COVID-19 test result, he had to self-isolate. A few days later, he received bad news in the mail. He will not receive any salary for the duration of his quarantine. Or else, he has to use his bank of personal days off to make up for it — days off he’s already spent after months of hard work.
“They send us a litany of paper to say that you have to stay at home for ten days and everything, but don’t tell us that your pay will be cut by 4-5 shifts afterwards, laments this worker. If you get sick, you fall into a ridiculous bureaucracy. We are not paid. It’s nothing to help us. If I get sick, will you let me down? It weakens the employment relationship. »
This story, the Duty heard it from several health care workers from different regions. This new problem emerged from the enormous quantities of infections, consequences of the fifth wave. The CISSSs and CIUSSSs previously reimbursed the salaries of their employees in quarantine by automatically transferring their file to the Commission for Standards, Equity, Health and Safety at Work (CNESST). A single positive PCR test was equivalent to a medical diagnosis, and then a “presumption” established that the employee had contracted the disease at work.
From now on, the number of contaminated is such that one asks the managers to analyze case by case the source of the infection of the workers. If the contact is deemed to have occurred outside the walls of a health center, COVID-19 is treated like any other disease.
These investigations undermine the confidence of many employees, says Benoît, given the difficulty of proving that the contagion comes from work. “We are asked to fill out a paper at the start of our isolation, where we write down our contacts, our movements and everything. We think it’s to trace contacts. Basically, it’s to provide proof that I could have contracted the disease at the grocery store or elsewhere. We fill it honestly. But if I had known, I would have said that I was at home, isolated. You want to be honest, but the employer is dishonest. It’s sad. »
“I have rent to pay”
Marie, who also prefers to keep her real name secret for fear of reprisals, worked as a part-time nurse in a Montreal hospital before ministerial order 2020-007 decreed a few weeks ago. Since then, she has been working full-time without the paid holidays that come with this extra workload. This change took on another weight when she learned that she was a “contact case”.
“They asked us to upgrade to full-time, but we don’t have the benefits of full-time,” she explains. That is to say, I am asked to be in isolation, but I am not paid for 7 days. »
She could turn to the CNESST for reimbursement, while her work unit classified as a “cold zone” was hit by an outbreak of COVID-19. “The employer said: ‘you work in a cold zone, you couldn’t catch COVID-19 at your workplace'”, Marie is indignant.
Asymptomatic, she tried to volunteer to work in a “hot zone”, but without success. She thinks of those who might be tempted to hide their illness after contracting COVID-19 outside the walls of a healthcare facility for fear of missing a paycheck. “I have rent to pay, I have two dependent children. I need to have cash flow. I want to work. »
Prove contamination
“Most CISSSs and CIUSSSs work like this,” confirms Judith Huot, vice-president of the FSSS-CSN, which represents thousands of health care workers. These are rogue employers. The Minister [du Travail, de l’Emploi et de la Solidarité sociale] Boulet should intervene for this purpose. We asked the ministry. It does not follow. »
She urges employees to claim compensation from the CNESST, well aware of the “hassle” that this can cause. As of last June, for 45,000 workers infected with COVID-19, only 25,000 files had been opened at the CNESST, according to the FSSS-CSN.
“However, employers, it costs them nothing more. In general, the more work accidents there are, the more your contribution costs, but during a pandemic, it is put on ice, ”argues M.me Huot.
She notes that this isolation at the expense of employees also concerns the CPE network. “They are all in this situation, or worse. »