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UPDATE: Nurse fired for speaking out, gets her job back

'Someone in government needs to ask why persecuting this nurse for telling the truth about violence was a strategic priority for health care spending in this community'
Sue McIntyre in front of nurse pic  KAS
North Bay nurse Sue McIntyre

Update Wed. 2:30 p.m.

Paul Heinrich, President and CEO, North Bay Regional Health Centre did not consent to BayToday's request for an interview, but instead issued this statement.

 

"As the decision set forth in the Sue McIntyre arbitration was received last evening, the North Bay Regional Health Centre is carefully analyzing the ruling with our legal and human resource teams to determine opportunities and next steps."

 

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Original story:

A North Bay nurse fired for speaking out about workplace violence has her job back after winning an arbitration.

Sue McIntyre was working at the North Bay Regional Health Centre as a nurse when she was fired by the hospital after she spoke about workplace violence at a nursing conference and was quoted in a union media release.

See: Give fired nurse her job back, union demands

And: Former hospital nurse accused of making false and damaging statements against the local hospital has her day

Arbitrator Bram Herlich says that he found McIntyre had "no plan or intention to initiate a media campaign to sully the hospital's reputation" and that she should be "reinstated to her employment without loss of benefits or seniority and with full compensation."

Herlich found that there is "broad acceptance that workplace violence is prevalent in the hospital sector" and that the comments made by nurses in an OCHU media release following the Kingston conference mirror concerns expressed in Ontario Hospital Association documents and the New England Journal of Medicine.

It was more than two years ago that McIntyre was fired, one of several nurses who participated along with other nurses in a panel-type discussion at a conference organized by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU) the hospital division of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE).  

"The case raised important issues of free speech and the need for protections for workers who blow the whistle on workplace violence," says an OCHU news release. "The firing of McIntyre highlighted the climate of fear in the health sector about reporting workplace violence."

 A CUPE poll of nearly 2,000 hospital sector members found that 44 per cent feared reprisal from the employer if they reported workplace violence. The same poll found that 68 per cent of direct care staff like nurses, personal support workers and porters had experienced workplace-related physical violence from patients in the last year; 20 per cent experienced physical violence more than nine times in a year and 42 per cent had been sexually harassed or sexually assaulted.

"Our internal polling and the recent study by University of Stirling researchers reveals our hospitals to be violent workplaces that often intimidate staff into staying mum about the widespread nature of this problem. Sue McIntyre is a heroine to health care workers for her courage in telling the truth about how bad it is,” says OCHU president Michael Hurley. 

“Finally, North Bay Regional Health Centre needs to be held accountable by the province for squandering hundreds of thousands of public dollars fighting this case. I know that CUPE has spent almost $500,000 defending Ms. McIntyre and I suspect the costs at the North Bay hospital are much, much higher. This is money that could have gone to keeping beds, programs and services open in North Bay.

“Someone in government needs to ask why persecuting this nurse for telling the truth about violence was a strategic priority for health care spending in this community,” Hurley says.

Efforts by BayToday to contact Paul Heinrich,  president of the North Bay Health Centre were unsuccessful. Union spokesperson Stella Yeadon says Sue McIntyre won't be making any statement at this time.


Jeff Turl

About the Author: Jeff Turl

Jeff is a veteran of the news biz. He's spent a lengthy career in TV, radio, print and online, covering both news and sports. He enjoys free time riding motorcycles and spoiling grandchildren.
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