Get the latest version of Flash Player to view this content
Join the Union. Why Join the Union? View The Information Now.
H1N1 Q&A
Nova Scotia is in the midst of a pandemic, and many of our members are directly helping the province get through as safely as possible. But the fact remains that all of our members — indeed, all of the province's workers — have certain rights. If you have any questions about H1N1 and how it affects you and your workplace, please e-mail them here H1N1 Q&A, and we'll do our best to answer them for you.
QUESTION: As a health care worker, I understand that the pandemic is a public health issue, but for me isn't it also an occupational health & safety (OH&S) issue?
ANSWER: Yes. It is both of these things. As an employee, the pandemic is an OH&S issue and should be treated as one. In workplaces with over 20 employees, according the OH&S act, you should have a Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee (JOHSC). If you have a workplace with less than 20 and more than 4 employees, you should have a health & safety representative. You can find out who your representatives are by asking fellow employees, your employer, by checking your OH&S bulletin board (if your workplace has one) or by calling the Union. Please note that the Union may have the information if we have been notified, but your employer is required by law to have that information.
QUESTION: I'm not in a high-risk group, so I haven't yet received the H1N1 vaccine. But my work brings me in close contact with people who might be infected by H1N1. Can I refuse to work under the Occupational Health and Safety legislation?
ANSWER: Perhaps. But only if your employer hasn't taken other reasonable measures to protect you from H1N1; and only if you follow the proper procedure for announcing your refusal to work. Given the rationing of vaccines, being unvaccinated is not, on its own, grounds for refusing to work. However, there are means beyond vaccination that your employer must take to ensure your safety
The Nova Scotia Labour and Workforce Development Department has published a list of “best practices” for workplace safety during the H1N1 pandemic. Along with aggressive hand-washing campaigns, it suggests the widespread practice of “social distancing.” This just means that workers try to keep at least two metres away from their co-workers and the public that they're serving. You can and should ask your employer to let you rearrange your workspace “ or perhaps even work from home — to help you accomplish this.
But for many workers, particularly in the health-care field, it's not possible to maintain a two-metre distance from people, even if they have been diagnosed with H1N1. If that applies to you, the government's best-practices literature suggests that you are entitled to further protection: surgical masks, eye protection, gloves and perhaps even gowns.
If you work in close proximity to “aerosol-generating medical procedures” “ procedures which can cause the patient's bodily fluids to be broken down into tiny, airborne particles “ the province's best-practices literature suggests that you are entitled to an N95 respirator that will filter those particles before you breathe them in. These respirators must be custom-fitted to your face, and you must be trained in their proper use.
So if you work in proximity to people who have, or may have H1N1, but your employer hasn't made a reasonable effort to provide you with the work environment or the personal protection equipment outlined in the province's best-practices literature, you could likely refuse to work.
Please note: in order to refuse work under the Occupation Health & Safety Act, you must follow a set procedure. You must first notify your direct superior, and he or she must allow you to give them a tour of your specific workplace while you outline your concerns. Your supervisor should then work to address your concerns or provide you with the equipment you feel you need.
If you're unsatisfied with your supervisor's response, you can then stop working. But you must also notify a member of your workplace's Joint Occupational Health & Safety Committee (JOHSC). And if the JOHSC doesn't deal satisfactorily with your concerns, you must then notify the Labour and Workforce Development Division of the Nova Scotia Department of Environment and Labour.
If you do refuse to work at your normal job, your employer has the right to reassign you to other work (so long as it doesn't violate your collective agreement). You will be paid as though you were working your normal job. Even if you're not reassigned, you will still be paid as though you were working your normal job.
QUESTION: Will a surgical mask from the drug store protect me from H1N1?
ANSWER: In conjunction with hand-washing and office cleaning campaigns, surgical masks do offer some protection from H1N1. Medical officials have been intensely studying how H1N1 is transmitted, and they believe that it is largely through the relatively large particles that an infected person sprays up to two metres away when they sneeze or cough. Surgical masks are useful in that they keep this spray from directly entering your mouth or nose. However, the spray can also enter through your eyes. So if you're wearing a surgical mask, you should also be wearing eye protection. Since neither a surgical mask nor eye protection neutralizes the virus, you should change them often, particularly if you've been sprayed upon directly.
Surgical masks can also help stop the spread of H1N1 when they're worn by people who've already been infected, trapping the spray when they sneeze or cough. For complete protection from H1N1, you need a piece of equipment called a N95 respirator, which completely covers you eyes, nose and mouth, and fine filters the air you breath. It has to be custom-fitted to your face, and you have to be trained in its proper use. But according to the province's best practices for health care workers, N95 respirators are only needed when you're in close proximity to “aerosol-generating medical procedures.” In other words, the province believes surgical masks and eye wear provide enough protection for most people in close contact with people infected with H1N1.
QUESTION: To deal with the demands of the H1N1 pandemic, my manager has asked me to do something in violation of my collective agreement. Do I have to do what he or she has asked?
ANSWER: Not necessarily. H1N1 is a serious issue, and we encourage our members to do every reasonable thing they can do to help the people of Nova Scotia get through this stressful time. However, no state of emergency has been declared, and all of our collective agreements remain in full effect. Your employer is still bound by their agreements with you, and you should feel free to hold them to those agreements. If you have any questions about your collective agreement, you may have a Steward in your workplace, or you can call the NSGEU Labour Resource Centre 424-4063 or toll free 1-877-556-7438 or e-mail LRC.
QUESTION: My employer wants me to sign a form stating whether or not I've been vaccinated for H1N1 and/or the seasonal flu. Do I have to do this?
ANSWER: No. Both the Capital Health District Authority and the IWK Grace Children's Hospital briefly toyed with the idea of signed forms for the sake of tracking purposes. However, both employers have since abandoned the idea. Yours should, too.
QUESTION: My employer is threatening to withhold my pay and cut my hours until I'm vaccinated against H1N1 and the seasonal flu. Is this legal?
ANSWER: No. If this happens to you, please let us know by calling the Labour Resource Centre at 424-4063 or toll free 1-877-556-7438 or e-mail LRC.
QUESTION: I am a health-care worker and I have symptoms of the flu. My employer says I have to take seven days before I can return to work. But a friend of mine with flu symptoms who isn't a health-care worker only has to take four days. Why do I have to take seven days?
ANSWER: In the early days of the pandemic, the Nova Scotia Department of Health ordered that everybody showing flu-like symptoms take seven days away from work. Given that the virus hasn't been as virulent as first feared, the health department has since reduced the mandatory days away from work to four, with the exception of health-care workers. For you, the seven-day rule remains in effect.
QUESTION: I work in a small hospital and although I'm classified as a clerk, part of my job includes portering patients to and from the emergency room. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with H1N1. Why am I not getting a vaccine when porters at other hospitals are?
ANSWER: The Nova Scotia government has decided to ration the H1N1 vaccines. This sort of rationing is a difficult process; lines must be drawn and, unfortunately, these lines are often imperfect. It's not always fair, but it's the best that can be done in the situation. However, remember that there are other steps beyond vaccination that you can demand your employer take to help protect you from infection.
