Workers will be offered extra hours to make up for lost income
AUPE and the Bethany Care Society have come to an agreement to protect your interests as workers, while also limiting work to for a single continuing-care employer during the current pandemic period.
You were asked by Bethany Care Society to work for only one health-care employer during the COVID-19 pandemic. That would have meant a significant loss of income and asking you to choose under those conditions was unfair.
That’s why AUPE went to the Alberta Labour Relations Board to ask for this to be stopped. AUPE and the Bethany Care Society have signed a Letter of Understanding that sets out how to proceed.
What happens if I choose to work for another employer?
If you choose to work for another employer instead of the Bethany Care Society, you will be given and unpaid Leave of Absence and will be allowed to return to work at your previous Bethany Care Society job after the pandemic is over.
If you are part of the group benefits plan at Bethany, you will be allowed to remain part of that plan during the pandemic.
What happens if I choose to work just at my Bethany Care Society job?
If you choose to work only at for the Bethany Care Society and give up your other health-care job or jobs and this means you will lose working hours, Bethany Care Society will give you more hours, up to a 1.0 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE).
You will be offered these extra hours ahead of all other employees, including out-of-scope employees, workers from temp agencies or contractors. The employer can only use out-of-scope employees, workers from temp agencies or contractors if no regular employees or employees affected by the agreement are available.
To show how many hours of work you are losing by giving up your other job or jobs, you will need to provide Bethany Care Society with pay stubs from your other jobs for the period between January 1 and April 1, 2020.
Bethany Care Society will be able to assign you to work temporarily at other Bethany Care Society sites during the pandemic. This would be done in accordance with the guidelines set by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, which mean that employees can work at different sites, but not on the same day.
What if I already signed the form saying I was choosing my other job or jobs?
The agreement says that even if you signed the form and chose to leave your Bethany Care Society job, you until Thursday, April 9, to change your mind and choose to go back to work for Bethany Care Society.
It is very important that you do this quickly.
If you choose to return to work with the Bethany Care Society, you will return at the beginning of the next regular schedule, which begins on April 21. However, you will not be allowed to return to work for the Bethany Care Society if you have worked at a site with a confirmed case of COVID-19 during your leave of absence.
If you signed the form and chose to take an unpaid leave of absence from the Bethany Care Society and keep your other job or jobs and you wish to stick to that, then nothing has changed.
What happens after the pandemic is over?
For four-and-a-half months after the pandemic is declared over, The Bethany Care Society will offer part-time employees regular work hours before offering them to out-of-scope employees or agency employees.
What if I still have questions about all of this?
Please contact your Member Service Officer (MSO), call the Member Resource Centre at (1-800-232-7284) or call your organizer Michelle Szalynski at 403-634-8262.