All Nurses Required to Follow Orders to Help Control Spread of COVID-19

* LAST UPDATED 13:00, MARCH 29 *

BC's Provincial Health Officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, has announced two separate orders designed to contain the spread of COVID-19. These are public orders and have not been negotiated by BCNU and the Employer; compliance is mandatory.

The Bridging Order restricts employees from working at more than one long-term care facility (LTC) or between an LTC site and an acute care site, as indicated by each health authority's local medical health officer (MHO). Local MHO orders have not yet been clarified and thus the impact of the Bridging Order is not yet clear. However, nurses who are informed by their Employer that they are being impacted by the bridging order should follow their Employer's direction as to site assignment. There is a plan being developed to provide for a centralized approach to the deployment of al long-term care staff. At this time the health authorities are involved in collecting data to the inform the process.

The Data Collection Order calls for the collection of information required to allocate staff working in LTC facilities, private hospitals, assisted living residences and designated hospitals. All employees who work at more than one worksite are being given the opportunity to register their preference for worksites for the PHO to consider when assigning employees to one worksite.

Please scroll to the bottom of this page to review related frequently asked questions.

To be clear, the Bridging Order only applies to LTC facilities at this time. The Office of the Provincial Health Officer would like to collect data from all nurses working at more than one worksite in case they decide to expand the order to apply to acute and other care settings.

For those of you who work at one worksite, you do not have to do anything.

Action required by employees who work at more than one worksite

For those of you who work at more than one worksite, and one of which is in long-term care, you will soon be assigned to work at only one worksite.

If you work at more than one worksite you must fill this form out. This includes nurses whose main job is in acute but who also work the occasional shift in a LTC facility.

• You must register your worksite preferences (e.g. first choice, second choice) on the BC Health Staffing website. The deadline to register is 5:00 pm, Sunday, March 29, 2020.
• The Office of the Provincial Health Officer will only consider the preferences if they are facilities you currently work at.
• There is no guarantee that you will be assigned to your first choice in worksites. The PHO will consider operational and epidemiological requirements over preferences.
• If you do not register your worksite preferences, you will be assigned by the Office of the Provincial Health Officer.
• The Office of the Provincial Health Office intends to notify employees by end of day April 2 of the facility they have been assigned to. You are to continue working scheduled shifts until notified otherwise.

Those members who work more than 1.0 FTE over two sites will have their hours maintained at the single site.

That is, members who are currently working 1.4 FTE total will have their hours increased at the single site to the full FTE they are currently working. Members who work part-time in a job outside of health care will not be compensated for those hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

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What is BC Health Staffing?

BC Health Staffing is a centralized staffing approach being coordinated by the PHO and the Ministry of Health. The approach will help ensure we maintain adequate staffing across the health sector. The central staffing process will review staffing requirements and available staff resources for each worksite affected by Orders of the PHO and medical health officers that limit the movement of staff between worksites.

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Is this centralized approach permanent?

It will be in effect as long as necessary to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

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Will health authorities and individual sites be involved in allocating staff resources or will it all be coordinated at a provincial level?

As part of the centralized staffing approach, the Ministry of Health and the PHO will ensure that health authorities and individual sites are consulted to ensure operational needs are met. And, in order to maintain site-specific knowledge and ensure continuity of care, they will work to ensure that as many employees as possible will remain at sites where they hold a regular position.

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Why is HEABC involved?

HEABC represents many publicly-funded health care employers in BC, and is providing assistance to the PHO to establish BC Health Staffing under their direction. HEABC does not manage BC Health Staffing and is not in charge of the final decision making with respect to the assignment of individual staff to specific worksites.

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Does the employee worksite preference website apply to all staff? What are the exemptions?

The Data Collection Order covers staff who work at long term care facilities, assisted living facilities that provide personal care, designated provincial mental health facilities, hospitals, extended care centres and rehabilitation centres. All staff, including employees, managers and supervisors who are routinely present at facilities are included. However, the following are exempt and do not have to provide a preference:

1. Physicians
2. Resident Physicians
3. Nurse practitioners
4. Paramedics
5. Delivery persons
6. Trades people
7. Visitors, or
8. Any other class of person exempted by the PHO

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Are casual employees exempt?

No, casual employees are covered by both orders and may be restricted to work at a single site.

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Could you clarify if this is for physicians as well?

No. Physicians are not included.

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This means that staff have 48 hours to choose their preferred workplace over the weekend?

Yes, preference must be submitted by 5:00 pm Sunday, March 29, 2020.

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Do the Bridging Order and Data Collection Order and the GIU* apply to organizations that are not members of HEABC?

Both Orders apply to both HEABC members and non-HEABC members if they meet the criteria set out in the Orders. This means employers of long term care facilities, assisted living facilities that provide personal care, provincial mental health facilities, hospitals, extended care centres and rehabilitation centres. The GIU explains the Orders and should be followed by any organization to which the Orders apply.

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How will employees who are not covered by HEABC’s provincial collective agreements be paid?

The Ministry of Health advises HEABC that employees will receive the hourly wage rate equivalent to HEABC collective agreements for the duration of the single worksite limitation period.

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There appears to be exemptions, will it be individual basis or profession based? If individual, how do employees apply for them?

Employees do not apply for exemptions. The PHO will issue further Orders that define the scope of single site limitations including any limitations based on profession. Employers and employees should review those Orders when issued.

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After April 2nd, will there be period of time for departments / employees working multi-sites to transition their schedules?

BC Health Staffing, under the Office of the PHO, will make directions as to cohorting staff to worksites. Employers will be responsible for scheduling staff. Employees should continue to work their scheduled shifts at their scheduled worksites until they are notified otherwise.

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Will this be mandated between health authorities or just within each health authority? (i.e. Employee working a VCH site be ineligible to work at a FHA site casually)

Employees may be limited to work at a single site regardless of health authority. An employee would not generally be permitted to work at any other sites in any other health authorities.

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Will I experience a loss in hours or pay if I am assigned to a single site?

The objective is to avoid negative impact to employees as a result of being assigned to a single site. Employers will make every effort to ensure employees continue to work the same FTE they worked prior to the change. All employees will be encouraged to maximize their hours regardless of their current employment status.

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What happens with all pre-booked shifts until June if we are mandated to only one site? And if you cannot re-book those shifts lost because you can no longer work at more than one site how does the difference in pay get made up?

Employees will continue to work scheduled shifts. The goal is to maintain at least the current maximum hours in the health care system. All employees will be encouraged to maximize their hours regardless of status.

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Is my SIN number secure on the employee selection website?

The privacy and security of employee’s personal information will be strictly protected. The data will be reviewed by BC Health Staffing for the purpose of informing the PHO’s decisions about assigning health care workers to work at a single site.