Worker frustrated over top-up uncertainty
LUNENBURG — The first few months of the pandemic were the scariest for Jasmine Turple.
A food service worker at Lunenburg Fisherman’s Memorial Hospital, Turple’s job is to prepare and deliver meals to medical staff and patients all day.
“I am constantly walking by people in the seating area, not knowing if they have COVID-19 or not,” said Turple. “We have a designated section for potential patients that may have the virus, but not everyone is honest when they come through the door.”
Turple is one of the thousands of essential front-line health-care workers in Nova Scotia who had no choice but to work through the pandemic.
At one point, Turple thought she had come into contact with someone with the virus at the hospital. As a result, she made the difficult decision to move her 10-yearold son to her in-laws for two weeks.
“It was heartbreaking and emotionally exhausting.”
In May, she got some good news. Premier Stephen McNeil announced that essential health-care workers were going to get a bonus of up to $2,000 for working through the pandemic. They could get as much as $500 a month, from March to July. The premier lauded the efforts of front-line health-care providers like Turple for “working flat out to keep Nova Scotians safe and healthy during this unprecedented time.”
Turple and other essential health-care workers are eager to get the modest bonus but nobody seems to know exactly when they will. The province has said payments will be issued at some point in the fall, perhaps as late as October. Turple said no one from government has notified her or other hospital staff whether they qualify. The waiting and wondering amounts to “a kick in the face,” Turple said.
“The premier likes to say we’re the heroes of the pandemic — the front-line workers — that he really appreciates us, but it’s all just talk,” said Turple.
Earlier this month, the province shared details of who’s eligible with unions and employers. She’s a shoein, it seems. The criteria includes hospital staff involved in direct contact with patients or their families. But the bonus is limited to only those workers that provided hands-on care. That leaves thousands of essential healthcare workers, such as hospital kitchen cooks, ineligible for the top-up. The province is also leaving it up to employers to distribute the payments.
Marla MacInnis, a Nova Scotia government spokeswoman, said employers will determine when workers get their top-up based on when they are able to process the payment in their payroll system.
The Chronicle Herald inquired with the province about whether it would notify those eligible for the payment directly but the question wasn’t answered by deadline.
Funding for the program is actually $12.7 million less than what was announced in May. The federal government had originally pledged $80.5 million, with the province announcing it would chip in $13.4 million. The funding has been reduced to $71.3 and $9.9 million, respectively.
The Herald also asked the province to explain why it decided to put less money into the program but didn’t get a response by deadline.
The waiting game puts Turple in a financial bind because she’s been losing pay since the state of emergency went into effect in March. She used to be able to pick up plenty of extra shifts before then. Since March, her department has been split into two teams that work independently. The change is a precautionary measure to limit the potential spread of COVID-19 in the department. Workers from one team can’t pick up shifts from the other. That means less hours for Turple.
She’s losing about $150 every two weeks. She faced challenges making ends meet before the pandemic but now her bank account is in the red by about $400 a month. Her husband works at Walmart. The company had been giving employees a pandemic top-up but that bonus was taken away from workers in June.
“I budget all of my money. … I am just a regular person trying to make a living for myself and my family,” Turple said. “I rely on every dollar and budget every dollar to pay the bills and feed my family. Having less money makes it that much harder and the bills are always there.”
Besides, she said, everyone who worked to keep the health-care system going during the pandemic should be entitled to the top-up.
“It should be for all healthcare workers that went to work. We didn’t have a chance to work from home and we shouldn’t be waiting (until the fall) for this money.”
NDP Leader Gary Burrill agreed. He said he’s been contacted by many health-care workers like Turple who are unclear whether they’re going to get the top-up.
He said all essential workers are deserving of the bonus, which is meant to serve as a token of respect and appreciation for front-line workers. All the uncertainty around who’s getting it, and when, is having the opposite effect, he said.
He said the responsibility of administering the top-up program should be with the provincial government, including notifying and paying essential workers directly.
“When you don’t let people know the details of whether they’re in, or they’re out, it provides a situation where they are feeling disrespected,” said Burrill. “They should not be stuck with uncertainty around a program that’s supposed to address the scope of their contribution.”