Allowances
16.01 Accommodations Allowance
Residents on mandatory rotations outside their home base will either be provided with private accommodations by the employer or have the cost of their accommodations reimbursed in accordance with the provisions of 16.01. (For purposes of this Agreement, the “home base” is considered the location of the home program of the Resident):
16.01 (a) Where the Employer has accommodations available, they will be provided for use by the resident for the duration of their mandatory rotation. Where the Employer has made accommodations available, residents will not be eligible for the accommodation and travel reimbursement under 16.01 (b) and 16.01 (c). Employer provided accommodations will include the following: heat, power, and wireless high-speed internet access. Where possible, the Employer provided accommodations will be pet friendly. In the event that pet friendly accommodations are not available, the resident may utilise the provisions of 16.01 (b). In the event that Employer provided private accommodations are not available for residents accompanied by their families, the resident may utilise the provisions of 16.01 (b):
- (i) Each Resident must follow all housing policies established by those teaching hospitals that provide accommodations;
- (ii) Cleaning fees in housing provided by the teaching hospitals in New Brunswick will continue to be the responsibility of the Resident;
- (iii) Any damage to accommodations or additional fees as the result of a pet is the sole responsibility of the Resident;
16.01 (b) Where the Employer does not have accommodations available, the resident may find their own accommodation for the duration of their rotation. All costs associated with the accommodation will be reimbursed by the Employer upon presentation of receipts or lease, up to $3100 per month or $100 per night. If accommodations cannot be booked at a site for less than $3100 per month or $100 per night, then the Resident may exceed this limit with the prior written approval of the Employer. This reimbursement shall be sufficient to fund furnished single accommodations, or family accommodations when requested.
16.01 (c) If Employer provided accommodations are not available and the resident is unable to secure accommodations, the resident may use their personal vehicle and commute from their home base. In such cases, the Employer shall pay the Resident the approved mileage rates of the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness on a monthly basis.
16.01 (d) Notwithstanding sections 16.01 (a), the Resident with prior approval from both the Program Director of the Resident’s own Program, and the Resident’s immediate supervisor, may choose to commute from their home base to the site of their mandatory rotation using their personal vehicle rather than staying in local accommodations. In such cases, the Employer shall pay the Resident the approved mileage rates of the Nova Scotia Department of Health and Wellness on a monthly basis. In no case shall such monthly payments exceed $1500. Residents utilizing this provision shall not be eligible for accommodation allowance in respect of the same time period.
16.02 Transportation Allowance
A Resident who is required to relocate his/her residence when moving from one teaching hospital to another as part of his/her residency program shall be entitled to one weekday's leave with pay in order to move from one location to another, and paid a transportation allowance equal to:
16.02 (1) economy airfare plus ground transportation; or
16.02 (2) where the Resident elects to use his/her personal vehicle, prevailing mileage rates of the Nova Scotia Department of Health.
This allowance will be paid by the receiving teaching hospital upon presentation of receipts. The provisions of this Article are intended as an expense reimbursement, and a transportation allowance will only be paid to the extent that a Resident has incurred an expense as a result of the move.
16.02 (3) Transportation Allowance for Exams
A Resident who is required to move from one teaching hospital to another as part of his/her residency program and who must travel to Halifax to write one of the exams specified in Article 18.10(a) shall be paid a transportation allowance equivalent to:
(a) economy airfare plus ground transportation; or
(b) where the Resident elects to use his/her personal vehicle, prevailing mileage rates of the Nova Scotia Department of Health.
This allowance will be paid by the Employer forthwith upon presentation of receipts or travel claim where the Resident elects to be paid mileage. For the LMCC 2 exam only the Resident will be reimbursed for up to two (2) days’ accommodations, plus travel expenses as described in this article, for the purpose of traveling to Halifax for writing the LMCC 2 exam, provided that they do not maintain their own existing accommodations.
16.03 (a) Daily/Monthly Parking
Residents shall not be reimbursed for parking, except under article 16.03 (b), but shall qualify for parking at the prevailing staff parking rate at each facility.
16.03 (b) Transportation From Home Call
Understanding that Residents are required to be within a twenty (20) minute drive from the hospital while on-call from home, a Resident, scheduled by the program director to be on-call from home and who is called back shall receive reimbursement of taxi fare from their home to the facility and return to a maximum of $15.00 each way upon presentation of receipts. The Employer will continue its current practice of reimbursing the Resident for any taxi fare in excess of $15.00 if it deems the costs to be reasonable in the circumstances. For greater certainty, this would include paying the taxi fare for a Resident traveling from Halifax to the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth. Alternatively, the Employer will provide parking at its expense when Residents on-call from home are called back to work between 1700 hours and 1200 hours Monday to Friday inclusive, and all day weekends and holidays until 1200 of the next weekday. Residents who park after 0800 hours will use their best efforts to have their vehicles moved as soon as possible, and no later than 1200 hours.
16.03 (c) Taxi for Post Call
Resident Physicians who feel they are unsafe to drive from their work location to their residence after working an in-house call shift will be reimbursed for taxi transportation home and if required, return to the work location for purposes of retrieving the vehicle to a maximum of twenty dollars ($20) each way.
Receipts will be provided in order to obtain reimbursement.
16.03 (d) Cross Coverage Transportation
When a Resident is required by a program director to provide cross-coverage between two or more facilities, the Employer will provide shuttle service or reimbursement of taxi fare to a maximum of $15.00 each way upon presentation of receipt. The Employer will continue its current practice of reimbursing the resident for any taxi fare in excess of $15.00 if it deems the costs to be reasonable in the circumstances. For greater certainty, this would include paying the taxi fare for a Resident traveling from Halifax to the Nova Scotia Hospital in Dartmouth.
16.3 (e) Mileage
The Employer shall pay mileage to Residents for required travel from their assigned workplace during regular business hours at the prevailing mileage rates of the Nova Scotia Department of Health.
16.3 (f) Mileage at distributed sites
- (i) For the purposes of this article, a ‘distributed site’ is identified as one with multiple teaching sites distributed over multiple Municipalities.
- (ii) Residents working at distributed sites are eligible to claim mileage for trips taken from their home using their own vehicle to and from their work site in another Municipality (i.e. preceptor’s office or other hospital). Any trip taken from their work site (i.e. preceptor’s office or other hospital) to another work site is eligible for mileage as per article 16.03 (e).
- (iii) A resident who chooses to live in a community other than the one in which their main hospital is located, is not eligible to claim mileage for travel to their home base. For the purpose of calculating mileage in 16.03(ii), the location of their main hospital will be used as their home for calculating mileage. For the purposes of this article, a resident is not to claim more mileage for a trip than was traveled.
16.04 (a) Call Stipend - Residents shall be paid a call stipend on a quarterly basis as follows:
Week-Day Call
- (i) Effective July 1, 2021, $139.36 per in house week-day call and $69.68 per home week-day call.
- (ii) Effective July 1, 2022, $141.45 per in house week-day call and $70.73 per home week-day call.
- (iii) Effective July 1, 2023, $143.57 per in house week-day call and $71.79 per home week-day call.
- (iv) Effective June 30, 2024, $145.01 per in house week-day call and $72.51 per home week-day call.
Weekend Call
- (i) Effective July 1, 2021, $155.45 per in house weekend call and $69.68 per home weekend call.
- (ii) Effective July 1, 2022, $157.78 per in house weekend call and $70.73 per home weekend call.
- (iii) Effective July 1, 2023, $160.15 per in house weekend call and $71.79 per home weekend call.
- (iv) Effective June 30, 2024, $161.75 per in house weekend call and $72.51 per home weekend call.
(b) With each call stipend payment, the Employer shall provide to the Resident an itemized list of the call stipends included in that payment, as per the call tracker.
(c) The Employer shall audit call stipends on a quarterly basis, and will report any adjustments to the affected Resident.
(d) Residents must report all calls worked, on a monthly basis. Call stipends will be paid only if calls are reported within 10 days after the end of the month in which they are worked.
(e) For Residents on home call, four (4) or more hours spent in house will convert the at home call stipend to an in house call stipend. Residents must give notice to the Employer of a change from at home call to in house call within the time frame described in (d), or the Resident shall not receive the in house call stipend for that call.
(f) Any work performed as a result of scheduling outside of Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., shall result in the Resident being paid an on-call stipend, limited to the call provisions of Article 17.
