Rough treatment, insubordination why employee lost job
After a series of complaints from co-workers and patients at a Winnipeg hospital, a health-care aide was terminated from his position.
Riccardo Patane had worked at the Seven Oaks Hospital since 2004, and after missing time due to a disability, he returned to full-time status on Feb. 8, 2016, in the family-medicine unit on the night shift.
On May 1, Gemma Elomina worked as the charge nurse on the unit and supervised Patane that night. At around 2:20 a.m., she testified a patient had requested assistance four times since 1 a.m., and she directed Patane to attend and help the patient to use the washroom.
Patane argued with Elomina about the request and he said he would help another patient first. Another nurse on duty eventually helped out the first patient.
When he was questioned on May 12 about why he refused to follow his supervisor’s direction, Patane said he didn’t remember the incident.
Another nurse, James Magara, testified about Patane’s behaviour toward another patient who was having trouble using the washroom. After several attempts, Patane left and Magara heard Patane refer to here as a “nasty bitch.”
Magara later learned that the patient had heard Patane’s comments and she didn’t want him to help her anymore. Magara sent an email to his supervisor about the incident and also included his characterization of Patane’s rough treatment of the same patient.
Patane denied the charge of rough treatment but he testified that he made the comment about the patient when he thought he was far enough away from her.
Patane said her behaviour toward him was not pleasant and she repeatedly called him a “big galoot,” a “fat health-care aide” and a “fat bastard,” which lead to his comment about her.
A third incident took place when a difficult patient (who was covered in his own feces) wouldn’t cooperate with staff members who were trying to get him to shower. Patane acted too aggressively, according to various coworkers.
Urszula Konopka, registered nurse, testified Patane “was pushing him to the chair and was holding him down with quite unnecessary force to give him an IM injection.”
On June 9, Patane was fired. The termination letter also referenced another incident of mistreatment of one patient on two separate occasions and his comment to a nurse when asked to do something of, “OK, I will get somebody to fucking do that.”
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Local 2509, grieved the decision and argued the firing was excessive, and a lot of the testimony against Patane was hearsay and therefore it was unreliable.
Arbitrator Martin Freedman dismissed the grievance. “The written warning (Patane) was given in January 2014 included being told that he was to take direction from the nurse in charge. This was a warning to which he did not pay adequate attention. The warning states that any future misconduct or unacceptable behaviour would lead to further discipline up to termination.”
That letter should have alerted Patane that he shouldn’t have committed even more misconducts, according to the arbitrator.
“The discipline that had been imposed on (Patane) did not have the effect of preventing the behaviour that was manifest in the incidents which I have found occurred. The hospital saw no rehabilitative potential, and I understand why. Considering all the circumstances discussed above, the hospital, in my opinion, was fully justified in terminating (Patane’s) employment.”
“When asked at the arbitration whether he would do anything differently now, he said: ‘No.’ He showed, argued the hospital, a ‘palpable disdain and contempt’ for several of his former RN (registered nurse) co-workers,” said Freedman.
Reference: Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, Seven Oaks General Hospital and Canadian Union of Public Employees, Local 2509. Martin Freedman — arbitrator. Timothy Lach for the employer. Trevor Ray, Katie Haig-Anderson for the employee. Oct. 31, 2017.
