‘Cash-for-jobs’ scheme forced workers to shell out for hospital gig
Toronto Star
SARA MOJTEHEDZADEH Staff Reporter
19 December 2017
Toronto Western Hospital is at the centre of a bizarre “cash-for-jobs”
scandal in which prospective employees were apparently forced to pay up
to $2,000 to land a part-time housekeeping position — in a scheme
allegedly co-ordinated by the department’s manager and chief union
steward.
The claims were outlined in a recent decision by labour arbitrator
Paula Knopf, who ruled that a union grievance demanding a third-party
investigation into the “unusual set of allegations” could proceed,
after the hospital tried to quash the complaint.
The arbitration hearing did not make any findings about the credibility
of the allegations, but was intended solely to decide whether the
grievance could move forward.
While the existence of a cash-for-jobs scheme doesn’t appear to be in
dispute, the hospital and the union representing department staff, CUPE
Local 5001, are now clashing over the details of who was involved and
what to do about it.
The complaints date back to 2015, when several workers say they paid
their chief steward, identified only as “J.L.,” between $1,500 and
$2,000 in exchange for a promise to be interviewed for part-time
cleaning positions with a starting wage of around $21 an hour. The
steward also provided them with interview questions in advance. The
employees said they were told by the manager’s assistant that they
would be offered the positions, and they were subsequently hired.
J.L. was terminated earlier this year after the hospital conducted an internal investigation into the affair.
“You [have] been identified as the individual who had offered your
services as a procurer of jobs at UHN for a fee,” says his termination
letter, which is cited in the arbitration decision.
“It is the hospital’s position that you have engaged in unethical and
illegal behaviour using your influence and knowledge of hospital
procedures to co-ordinate the hiring of several individuals.”
Alexa Giorgi, a spokesperson for Toronto Western — part of the
University Health Network — told the Star in an emailed statement the
organization did not comment on matters before arbitration.
According to the arbitration decision, a former hospital employee
identified as B.L., is expected to testify in future proceedings that
she paid the steward $1,000 prior to receiving an interview and $1,000
after receiving a job offer from the manager’s assistant. The employee
claims at one point she got into an argument with J.L. and threatened
to expose the scheme. She was terminated shortly thereafter for
“unusual and unauthorized activity.”
The ruling says B.L. will allege that her signature was forged on an
ensuing memorandum claiming all matters related to her termination were
settled and that she would receive a reference letter. The employee is
also expected to say she had to pay a further $100 to the chief steward
to receive a reference letter from the manager, who is identified as
M.B.
While the union’s grievance doesn’t dispute the former chief steward’s
involvement, it claims he was co-ordinating the scheme with M.B.,
noting that the steward had “no authority to hire and had no legitimate
input into hiring decisions.”
Although M.B. was interrogated as part of the hospital’s investigation,
the hospital said there were no notes from its interview with her,
according to the ruling. M.B. denied any involvement or wrongdoing, and
as a result her employer “decided that nothing implicated (her) in the
allegations.”
“While the employer does not challenge the legitimacy of the union’s
concerns, the hospital asserts that its investigation and the
termination of J.L. have resulted in there being ‘no more mischief left
to remedy,’” the arbitration ruling reads.
In addition to an independent investigation, CUPE’s grievance is asking
the hospital to reimburse workers who had to pay to secure their jobs,
and to ensure union members will not have to deal with any managers who
were involved in the scheme.
“CUPE wants to protect the integrity of the job hiring process at UHN,”
said Wassim Garzouzi, a lawyer with Raven, Cameron, Ballantyne &
Yazbeck LLP, which is representing CUPE. “The purpose of the
third-party investigation is to ensure that all persons involved are
identified, held accountable and that going forward, meaningful changes
are introduced to eliminate these practices.”
The hospital argued the grievance should not be allowed because the
workers were not yet employees with union coverage when they paid the
cash.
That argument was slapped down by Knopf, who said if all the
allegations are proven, they could have created a “vulnerability and
ongoing jeopardy” for anyone who secured a job through the scheme —
hindering their ability to fully exercise their workplace rights.
“Demanding money in return for a job is essentially an extortion scheme that affects both the payor and the payee,” she noted.
“Since these are all issues that affect the whole of the bargaining
unit and the rights of the union, this is properly before me as a
policy grievance.”
The next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 23.
Comments
Paying for jobs is not as "bizarre" as this Toronto Star article makes
it appear. It has gone on probably since the start of the Industrial
Revolution.
In the 1960s and 1970's it was a common practice in Toronto to pay $100
or more to get an interview and placement in a good paying factory job.
Today, the practice is still very common in China and I have been told
the prices that needs to be paid for qualified applicants to get a job
as a nurse in a good hospital (100,000 RMB) or as a teacher in a very
good school.
—CondoMadness
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