Emergency rooms in Quebec are overcrowded and workers are not much. In the past week, the price paid by healthcare staff for illicit snacking has been a topic of discussion.
There was disbelief recently when the Journal de Montréal’s report has it that a nurse in a long-term care facility in south of Montreal was accused of theft and handed three days of suspension without pay for eating a slice of toast and peanut butter meant for residents.
Similar suspensions were remembered in the following days. An orderly who had worked for 21 years in a long-term care facility in Montreal was given a 30-day suspension in the summer of 2020 for eating one doughnut gotten from the kitchen. La Presse also reported the case of an orderly suspended for five days without pay in Longueuii for eating a slice of pizza and challenging a colleague whom she felt reported her to management.
Jennifer Genest, Vice-President of a Quebec union that represents healthcare workers in private residences for the elderly, revealed that her union has been condemning these disciplinary measures over the years.
She said: “We are all aware of the critical staffing shortages throughout our healthcare system right now. No one is able to fill their staffing needs, especially when it comes to nurses and orderlies. All departments are understaffed, and when a nurse or an orderly is suspended for such trivial actions, it only hurts the residents and patients.”
Genest said these suspensions have led to mandatory overtime for others, which affects the remaining staff negatively.
This week, a discussion about purloined food took place in the national assembly. Andre Fortin, Liberal health critic, said suspensions over alleged theft and a failure to be loyal toward the employer — “a month without pay for eating a doughnut, a week for a slice of bacon, a month for a sip of coffee” — made zero sense.
During the question period, Fortin said: “The issue is not the toast and the coffee. The issue is the fact that we are short 10,000 health professionals at this time, and each time someone is suspended, it’s the patients who lose services.”
While responding, Health Minister Christian Dubé said the disputes reflect a workplace climate of confrontation and grievances. He revealed is need for a “change of culture in our network” and that he wants health institutions to once again become “an employer of choice.”
Also, he vowed that various reports of suspensions would be looked into by the government to determine what happened.
Sarah Bigras, junior health minister Sonia Bélanger’s aide, revealed in a recent email that the suspensions were “unacceptable and incomprehensible.”
Bigras said: “We do not think that we can currently afford to lose employees for matters about food. We need these employees to meet our challenges.”
Montérégie-Est region’s health authority had announced that it was withdrawing its suspension of the toast-eating nurse and she would be reinstated at the Chevalier-De Lévis long-term care centre in Longueuil. It said the suspension was too harsh for the act committed.
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