85 Manitoba direct-care workers put on unpaid leave over failure to get COVID-19 testing

Dozens of Manitoba direct-care workers have been placed on unpaid leave as of Tuesday, after failing to comply with public health orders, including getting vaccinated against COVID-19 or submitting to routine testing.

A total of 85 direct-care staff have been placed on leave, Shared Health, the organization that co-ordinates health care in the province, said Tuesday afternoon. That number stood at 30 as of Monday afternoon.

The absences haven't yet created any big staffing shortages, according to Shared Health.

The holes are being backfilled with redeployed health-care staff, volunteers from the pool of casual provincial employees, managers and staff who have agreed to travel for support services, Shared Health said.

Health-care workers and personal care home staff are among thousands of public employees who were required to be vaccinated by Monday or submit to COVID-19 testing every 48 hours.

As of Monday, about 36,500 of the province's roughly 42,000 direct-care workers had completed the disclosure process, Shared Health said.

Of those, 29,389 direct-care staff who work with patients, residents and clients had been verified as vaccinated. About 5,400 others notified their employer they are vaccinated and are waiting on their submissions to be verified.

Roughly 1,800 staff had completed the process and weren't vaccinated as of Monday, meaning they will be required to undergo three tests per week to work.

Reluctance could be due to privacy concerns: union

A Manitoba union representing thousands of direct health-care workers says privacy issues might be causing the reluctance. 

The Canadian Union of Public Employees in Manitoba says the setup of on-site COVID-19 testing for unvaccinated employees has the potential to violate the province's Personal Health Information Act.

"We're in the business of health care and protecting people's health information — that's a big part of the job," said Shannon McAteer, health-care co-ordinator for CUPE, a union that represents 18,000 health-care staff in Manitoba.

The PHIA states anyone collecting health information must have safeguards in place to ensure confidentiality, security, accuracy and integrity of the information.

McAteer said health-care staff are frustrated with how visible the testing protocols have been. She said while the test themselves happen in private areas, everyone can see who goes in and out of those spaces.

"It's too open," said McAteer, adding that not all sites have these issues. She said the union had to stop some centres after they lined up employees into queues of vaccinated and unvaccinated staff.

"There can be some stigma attached to that, depending on which side of the debate your co-workers are on," said McAteer.

"We're concerned that this is going to just keep snowballing and we'll be in a situation where we don't want to cause that kind of friction. It's stressful enough right now in health care. We don't need to add more stress."

McAteer said the union is asking the province to allow employees to take the tests at home, even half of the time. The tests are self-administered at the health-care sites, she said, so they can easily be done at home.

McAteer said the union has been hearing concerns from vaccinated and unvaccinated members.

"It's not just the individuals who are having to go for the testing. Their co-workers are saying, 'I shouldn't know what Shannon's doing — I shouldn't have that information,'" said McAteer. 

"Of course, you've always got the group who wants to know so that they don't have to work with Shannon, which is again, what we're worried about."

Other concerns include where the information is going, logging inconsistencies across sites and how long the information is kept.

A spokesperson from Shared Health said in an email sites are doing their best to offer privacy.

"Depending on the physical layout and space available at an individual site, various strategies are being used to achieve that appropriate level of privacy — including the use of screens and partitions," they said.

The spokesperson added that all health-care workers are bound by PHIA, and they should not be discussing or sharing any personal health information they come across.

Privacy balanced with safety

The province is performing a balancing act, according to one labour and human rights lawyer.

"One has to weigh privacy issues against things like workplace health and safety, like the safety of our community, like the safety of potentially vulnerable people, which is what the mandates are focused on," said Jamie Jurczak, a partner at Taylor McCaffrey in Winnipeg who practises labour and employment law with a focus on occupational health and safety, and human rights.

Jurczak said a vaccine mandate can be looked at as another tool required for someone in health care to properly do their job.

"Human rights legislation has always made very clear that, you know, you can have bona fide occupational requirements that might outweigh what otherwise appears to be discriminatory actions," said Jurczak.