Yukon Hospital Corporation seeks to recoup $44K in salary overpayments

The Yukon Hospital Corporation has overpaid its employees, and now it wants its money back.

Documents obtained by CBC though the Access to Information Act show 36employees were overpaid a total of $44,136 between January 2016 and July 2016. The individual overpayments range from a few hundred dollars to more than $6,000.

The audit that discovered the overpayments didn't identify underpayment issues.

The hospital corporation manages hospitals in Whitehorse, Dawson City and Watson Lake, but the pay issues are specific to Whitehorse General Hospital.

In a letter sent to affected employees in October, the corporation said itdiscovered the error during an audit. The letter included options for repayment, including deductions off banked overtime for amounts under $500 and months-long payment plans for larger amounts.

The request for repayment didn't go over well with all employees.

An internal email sent by the corporation's accounting department in November said some employees were angry the hospital was "clawing back money" due to mistakes they said the hospital made.

Another email, sent by the corporation's chief financial officer, said one employee filed a grievance. As of November, twopeople documented as having received overpayments were no longer employed with the hospital.

Some of the affected employees are members of the union of the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada, which represents registered nurses. The union has not yet responded toCBC'srequest for comment.

Cam Heke, communications manager with the corporation, wouldn't say how much of the $44,136has been recouped, only that it recognizes the challenge this may present to some staff.

"We're going to be as accommodating as we can throughout the process."

Human Error

The pay issueat the hospital is unrelated to thePhoenix payroll problems affecting thousands of federal employees.

Heke said overpayments at the hospital were the result of data entry errors. He said anexample of when an overpayment may have occurred would include staff working in two different areas during the same shift and having the time mistakenly entered twice.

"It's a human error issue, which can be resolved," he said.

Heke said the problem involved both front line staff and managers.

He said checks have been added to prevent future problems.

"We're quite confident going forward that we're not going to have significant issues in the future."

• Yukon government defends $493K rebranding exercise
• Yukon hospital overcrowding called 'the new paradigm'