N.S. premier clarifies that nurses on maternity leave will receive $10K retention bonus

Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says nurses who are currently on maternity leave will receive a recently announced $10,000 bonus, amid some confusion about eligibility.

"In the case of those people on maternity leave, they are eligible for the bonus, for sure," Houston said during question period on Wednesday.

It comes two days after the provincial government announced the bonus plan for nurses and other health-care workers as a "thank you" to those who've worked in the past year.The retention incentives for nurses include a $10,000 bonus to registered nurses, licensed practical nurses and nurse practitioners working in the province, another $10,000 next year to nurses who promise to continue working until 2026. Another $10,000 is available to nurses "who have left the public system and who agree and are selected to return with a two-year return of service agreement signed before March 31, 2023."

Houston, who told reporters Wednesday the incentive had been in the works for "quite some time," says he'll continue to clarify who is and who isn't included.

"A policy like that is never perfect off the top, but it is progress and we'll continue to make progress on that," he said.

'Undervalued and underappreciated'

But some nurses on maternity leave say they had heard from the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union that, depending on when their leave began, they were ineligible for the bonus.

"The fact that the timing of when my baby was born excludes me from benefits or a bonus that other people will be getting … really just makes you feel undervalued and underappreciated as a nurse and someone trying to raise their family in this province," said Heather Clancy, who works as a nurse in the Halifax Infirmary's emergency department. "[It] doesn't seem sustainable, to be honest."

Clancy said in an interview that she began her maternity leave in April 2022, with plans to return to work in late April. But she said initially, they were told that employees who hadn't worked in the 2022-2023 fiscal year up until March 20, were ineligible.

Rachel Alexander, who also works as a nurse at the Halifax Infirmary and is currently on maternity leave, said the initial confusion over eligibility has been frustrating.

"I was certainly unimpressed," she said. "Tim Houston, you're saying to all of these women who have worked health care and given up their bodies, their backs, their minds … because we went off to take care of our bodies and our babies for one year, out of the three years of the pandemic … we don't qualify. That's absurd."

Alexander said information about the eligibility rules has been vague since the announcement was made.

When asked by Liberal Leader Zach Churchill about the parameters of the retention bonus on Wednesday, Houston replied: "Sometimes you don't get these things perfect. We're looking at clarification on some of the inclusions on that and we'll continue to look at that. We want health-care workers to know they're respected, they're valued, and things are getting better despite what you might hear to the contrary."

Churchill later told reporters he heard from nurses who were on sick leave for injuries and serious illness who said they wouldn't qualify for the bonus. He said he feels the creation of the incentive was rushed.

"This is a government I do think is very reactive, that rushes a lot of decisions and I think this decision was rushed. They're looking at coming into the legislature facing the fact vacancies have increased with nurses in the province and wanted to have an answer coming in here," he said.

Churchill said the bonus should be available for all nurses.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender agreed with Churchill, saying the bonus felt rushed and that all nurses should get them. 

Chender said she's heard from nurses who were told they are not receiving the incentive for various reasons — from maternity leave to being a permanent, but not full-time employee. 

"In particular with the nurses on maternity leave, this is a problem throughout the professional universe. If you choose to have a child as a woman, you pay a penalty financially and career-wise and this would be one more penalty on top of that," Chender told reporters on Wednesday.

"If you work full time and decide to have a baby, does that mean that you didn't work full time and shouldn't be thanked or are less worthy of being retained? In my opinion, no."