Some health-care workers at Sudbury's Health Sciences North were recently sent home because they were in situations where they might have had a high-risk exposure to COVID-19, even though they were asymptomatic and had tested negative for the coronavirus.
In some cases, some of those workers might not be paid for their time off the job, depending on the details of the work contract or collective union agreement.
The information was confirmed by HSN communications manager Jason Turnbull in response to queries from Sudbury.com with respect to the news that a health-care worker had tested positive for COVID-19.
For privacy reasons, the hospital cannot reveal the nature of the work performed by individuals or what part of the hospital they were employed in. Turnbull confirmed last week that workers were sent home after a hospital staff member was found to have tested positive for COVID-19 the previous week. He said this was in accordance with HSN's infection control policies.
"Maintaining a safe environment for people to work, learn and receive care is a high priority for HSN, especially in the current pandemic. As such, HSN has stringent infection prevention and health and safety policies in place to protect staff and patients from exposure to COVID-19," he said.
"Following the situation last week, 12 HSN staff were sent home to self-isolate as per our health and safety protocols. All 12 tested negative for COVID-19 and there were no patient exposures," Turnbull added.
With respect to payment for the workers, he said in situations where an HSN health-care worker develops symptoms related to an illness, whether it’s COVID-19 or not, their entitlement to sick leave benefits is determined by their employment contract.
"HSN’s health and safety policies state that health-care workers, even those who are asymptomatic, must self-isolate if they are identified as having a high-risk exposure to COVID-19. When this happens, HSN would consider first if staff could do their work from home. If their work cannot be performed from home, the health-care worker can use banked, lieu or vacation time to cover their period of absence," Turnbull explained.
If these options are not available, staff may be eligible for government sponsored employment insurance or other recovery benefits, he added. The majority of health-care workers at HSN are represented by CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) and the Ontario Nurses Association (ONA).
Len Gillis is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter at Sudbury.com, covering health care in Northern Ontario. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the federal government.
