Winnipeg Free Press
25 August 2010
Carol Sanders
More than a year after hearings began, a labour arbitrator has ruled against the three chaplains who complained their boss, a priest at St. Boniface General Hospital, bullied them
“The complaints of harassment and abuse in this case were entirely without merit,” arbitrator Arne Peltz wrote in his 140-page decision.
Moreover, the non-denominational minister, and the Roman Catholic nun and priest who filed a grievance against Fr. Gerry Ward, should ask for forgiveness, Peltz wrote.
“Rev. (Carlyle) Murrell-Cole, Sister (Jeannine) Corbeil and Father (Roland) Lanoie should search their hearts and reflect deeply on the moral quality of their actions,” Peltz wrote.
His accusers had asked the arbitrator for a month off, $10,000 each and disciplinary action for Ward, the director of spiritual care services at the hospital.
In the end, what they received, was chastisement of themselves.
“At the very least, these three chaplains owe the hospital and Father Ward a public apology,” Peltz concluded. “After the unrelenting and unfair attack he has sustained, I hope Father Ward can forgive them.”
The chaplains are still employed in the spiritual care department.
They had alleged Ward verbally abused them, threatened to undermine their careers, then labelled them as troublemakers.
In his decision, Peltz said their complaints were “frivolous and vexatious” and “blown out of proportion.”
Corbeil had testified that Ward referred to the department as a “kindergarten” and a nuclear medicine specialist as “the lady who glows in the dark.” She said Ward told her that her size intimidated a chaplain and that her temper had others calling her Attila the Nun.
Lanoie wanted to know why he wasn’t getting his work schedule sent to him electronically anymore, Ward told him it was because Lanoie was rude to his assistant. Ward’s assistant told the hearing she didn’t know anything about it and that she hadn’t reported to Ward that Lanoie was rude to her.
After Murrell-Cole, initially one of Ward’s confidantes, was elected as the chaplains’ union representative, he was removed from his long-held position as the psychiatric unit’s chaplain and the office that went with it. Murrell-Cole said he was reassigned to a heavier workload and a desk he had to share with other chaplains.
The hospital defended Ward, arguing the chaplains were unhappy employees resistant to change who were out to get him, and challenged their boss’s authority.
In 2008, they filed a grievance against Ward. The hospital’s head of human resources looked into their claims and brought in an outside consultant who said the chaplains were the problem, not their boss, the hospital’s lawyer Ken Maclean said during the hearings.
Ward walked into a “very troubled workplace… with problematic communication… He was hired to end that discord,” Maclean said.
The labour arbitrator, who heard the two sides over the course of a year, said in his award that Ward had his work cut out for him when he was hired in 2005.
“The evidence revealed a picture of an exasperated (spiritual care) Director who was facing intractable conflict including intemperate, sometimes insubordinate conduct by part of his staff,” Peltz wrote in his decision.
“The grievers were ungovernable but Ward and (human resources) persisted in efforts at counselling, coaching and mediation, rather than discipline.”
Still, Peltz ordered the hospital to pay $2,500 in compensation to Murrell-Cole after he was shuffled out of his position for which he was hired in the psych ward.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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Arbitration for warring chaplains
Winnipeg Free Press
15 March 2010
Carol Sanders
Are they spiritual caregivers who were harassed and bullied by a vindictive boss, or troublemakers out to get the guy in charge because they didn’t like change or taking direction?
A labour arbitrator will now decide, after the long-running hearing into allegations of bullying and verbal abuse in the spiritual care department at the St. Boniface General Hospital ended with closing arguments Saturday.
The three hospital chaplains alleging harassment have asked arbitrator Arne Peltz to award them a month off, $10,000 each, and disciplinary action for their boss, a priest they alleged bullied them.
Sister Jeannine Corbeil, Father Roland Lanoie and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole claim the hospital’s spiritual care director, Father Gerry Ward, verbally abused them, threatened to undermine their careers, then labelled them troublemakers.
“He caused them a great deal of stress,” said lawyer Jake Giesbrecht, who represented the chaplains, who are members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals and filed the grievance.
Since the hearing began last May, Peltz heard 23 days of evidence in what is believed to be Manitoba’s first major arbitration case concerning alleged workplace bullying. When Peltz makes his decision, it will be binding.
The lawyer for the three chaplains argued Ward was treated like a “white knight” brought in to save a dysfunctional spiritual care department, but turned out to be a gossiping bully. Ward made a bad situation worse, with name-calling, making up stories to pit staff against each other and punishing those who questioned his actions, Giesbrecht said.
Ward’s behaviour drove away two chaplains who left the hospital, but the administration never gave more than a “cursory review” to the complaints that followed by the nun, the priest and the minister, he said. The Respectful Workplace Act and the hospital’s own policy were violated, but those in charge did nothing, said Giesbrecht, citing a few examples.
Ward, who referred to the department as a “kindergarten” and a nuclear medicine specialist as “the lady who glows in the dark,” told Corbeil her size intimidated a chaplain and that her temper had others calling her Attila the Nun. At the hearing, the chaplain whom Ward said she intimidated denied that.
When Lanoie wanted to know why he wasn’t getting his work schedule sent to him electronically anymore, Ward told him it was because Lanoie was rude to his assistant. Ward’s assistant told the hearing she didn’t know anything about it and that she hadn’t reported to Ward that Lanoie was rude to her.
After Murrell-Cole, initially one of Ward’s confidantes, was elected as the chaplains’ union representative, he was removed from his long-held position as the psychiatric unit’s chaplain and the office that went with it. Murrell-Cole was reassigned to a heavier workload and a desk he had to share with other chaplains.
The hospital defends Ward, arguing it is the three chaplains who are the problem. Lawyer Ken Maclean said the three chaplains are unhappy employees resistant to change who were out to get Ward and challenged their boss’s authority.
In 2008, they ganged up on Ward, who started at the hospital in 2005, filing a grievance and dredging up anything they thought they could claim as harassment, said Maclean: “Just because there’s a lot of allegations doesn’t mean there’s a case.”
The hospital’s head of human resources looked into their claims and brought in an outside consultant who said the three chaplains were the problem, not their boss, Maclean said. The other 11 chaplains had no complaints about Ward, Maclean said.
Ward walked into a “very troubled workplace… with problematic communication,” Maclean said.
He tried to stop dissatisfied employees from sending out group emails undermining his authority and those who were “stirring the pot.”
Ward was making decisions, not harassing employees, said Maclean. “If the workplace was stressful, it was not necessarily because of Father Ward.”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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‘Bullied’ chaplains seek month off
Hearing told trio wants compensation for boss’s behaviour
Winnipeg Free Press
14 March 2010
Carol Sanders
Three hospital chaplains alleging harassment have asked an arbitrator to award them a month off, $10,000 each and disciplinary action for their boss, a priest they alleged bullied them.
Close to a year after it began, a labour arbitration hearing into allegations of bullying and verbal abuse in the spiritual care department at the St. Boniface General Hospital ended with closing arguments Saturday.
Hospital chaplains Sister Jeannine Corbeil, Father Roland Lanoie and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole allege their boss, Father Gerry Ward, verbally abused them, threatened to undermine their careers, then labelled them as troublemakers.
“He caused them a great deal of stress,” said lawyer Jake Giesbrecht, who represented the chaplains who are members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals and filed the grievance.
“Because of the abusive actions of the employer, punitive damages are warranted,” he told the labour arbitration hearing.
Arbitrator Arne Peltz has heard 23 days of arguments starting last May. The lawyer for the chaplains argued Ward was treated like a “white knight” brought in to save a dysfunctional spiritual care department but was a gossiping bully. Giesbrecht said Ward made a bad situation worse, with name-calling, making up stories to pit staff against each other and punishing those who questioned his actions.
Ward referred to the department as a “kindergarten” and a nuclear medicine specialist as “the lady who glows in the dark.”
Ward told Corbeil that her size intimidated a chaplain and that her temper had others calling her Attila the Nun. The chaplain Ward said she intimidated denied it at the hearing. When Lanoie wanted to know why he wasn’t getting his work schedule sent to him electronically, Ward told him it was because he was rude to his assistant. His assistant told the hearing she didn’t know anything about it and hadn’t reported to Ward that Lanoie was rude.
After Murrell-Cole was elected as the chaplains’ union representative, he lost his long-held position as the psychiatric unit’s chaplain and the office that went with it. He was reassigned to a heavier workload and a desk he had to share with other chaplains.
The hospital defends Ward, arguing the chaplains are the problem. Lawyer Ken Maclean said they’re unhappy employees resistant to change who were out to get Ward and challenged their boss’s authority.
In 2008, they filed a grievance against Ward, dredging up anything they thought they could claim was harassment, said Maclean.
“Just because there’s a lot of allegations doesn’t mean there’s a case.”
The hospital’s head of human resources looked into their claims and brought in an outside consultant who said the chaplains were the problem, not their boss, Maclean said.
Ward walked into a “very troubled workplace… with problematic communication… He was hired to end that discord,” Maclean said.
He said there is no evidence of harassment and no reason to award them damages or a month off.
“We heard no medical evidence to substantiate that.”
When Peltz issues his decision, it will be binding.
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Hospital chaplains’ infighting made changes necessary: boss
Winnipeg Free Press
26 November 2009
The priest accused of bullying chaplains at a Winnipeg hospital says most but not all of his staff embraced the changes he was forced to make in a divided department in an evolving institution.
At an arbitration hearing Wednesday, Father Gerry Ward testified that after he took the job of spiritual care director at St. Boniface General Hospital in 2005, changes had to be made in his department because of infighting.
When he told the hospital chaplains they were no longer allowed to send emails to their colleagues at work without his approval, he got a swift response from one of them: “Heil Hitler.”
The remark was made by Sister Jeannine Corbeil, one of three chaplains who’ve filed a grievance against Ward, accusing him of bullying.
Corbeil, Father Roland Lanoie and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole allege Ward verbally abused them, threatened to undermine their careers, then labelled them as troublemakers.
The email edict was an attempt to curtail some of the divisiveness, Ward said.
There also had to be changes in staffing to reflect changes in the overall hospital, he said.
Ward said nowadays, patients spend fewer days in hospital than a decade ago, so chaplains today have to respond more quickly.
The hospital became the major cardiac care centre, and that changed the “acuity” of the needs for spiritual care, said Ward.
The changes he made to the spiritual care department staffing and assignments were welcomed by most but not all the chaplains, he said.
Ward removed Murrell-Cole from his 13-year position in the psychiatric unit after the non-denominational minister was elected as the union representative for the spiritual care department staff. Murrell-Cole testified earlier that he was kicked out of his office and reassigned to another part of the hospital with twice the responsibilities. He told hearing arbitrator Arne Peltz that he was assigned to share a desk with another chaplain in a tiny office.
There were no chaplains with any psychiatric training, experience or desire to take Murrell-Cole’s place, he said. He said before his assignment was taken away, he ran group sessions for the mental-health patients twice a week as well as making the rounds, assessing patients spiritual needs and counselling outpatients.
Ward testified Wednesday that the psychiatric unit didn’t require a lot of spiritual care, so Murrell-Cole was shifted to another area of the hospital. The psychiatric ward eventually became an on-call assignment, and chaplain services were only requested a couple of times a week, said Ward.
The hearing continues Friday.
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Priest says retribution not taken
Sent chaplains where needed
Winnipeg Free Press
17 December 2009
Carol Sanders
The head of spiritual care at St. Boniface General Hospital said he hasn’t sought retribution against three chaplains who’ve accused him of being a bully, and had nothing to do with an aboriginal spirit-removal ceremony that surprised palliative care staff.
On the third day of cross-examination at an arbitration hearing, Father Gerry Ward said he reassigned chaplains to new posts because that’s where they were needed, not as retribution for bad-mouthing him during mediation that was supposed to be confidential.
A mediator was to help the department resolve some of the conflicts that began before and after Ward was hired as spiritual care director in 2005.
“I decided not to participate,” Ward testified at an arbitration hearing Wednesday.
“We’d get a report at the end of mediation,” he said. He didn’t get a report at the end but heard about it from some chaplains as it was happening.
“Some of my staff told me what was happening,” Ward said. The mediation was a confidential process and is off limits to the labour arbitration hearing. But the lawyer representing the three chaplains asked if what Ward was hearing from some of his staff had anything to do with the reassignment of chaplains who weren’t consulted first.
Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole, one of the chaplains who has filed a grievance against Ward, was taken out of his position on the psych unit, which the non-denominational chaplain had held for 12 years.
“Was it retribution for some of the things going on in mediation?” Jake Giesbrecht, the lawyer representing the unionized chaplains, asked their boss.
“No.” Ward said the changes in chaplain assignments were made to reflect the changing needs of the hospital.
“Sometimes the needs can’t match what the staff wants… These are positions that had to be filled.”
Another complaint against Ward was that he didn’t give staff the information they needed to do their jobs. One example was the time the aboriginal services department held a “cleansing ceremony” in the palliative care unit.
“There was a spirit child in the former children’s unit on the eighth floor,” Ward told the hearing Wednesday. “They wanted to do a service to release the spirit.”
Ward didn’t inform the chaplains assigned to that unit until the day of the ceremony that included a procession and chanting down the hallway. The staff of the unit, which is now home to palliative care, wanted to know what was going on but the chaplains assigned to the unit — including Father Roland Lanoie, who filed a grievance against Ward — said they weren’t advised of it by their boss.
Ward said he had no control over the aboriginal services unit and it was up to its director, Linda Brazeau, to inform hospital staff on that unit. “That was her job,” said Ward. “I don’t tell her what to do.”
He said he was informed of the service the week before but didn’t know when it was happening until he heard on the morning of the spirit child ceremony, and paged Lanoie right away.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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Nun known as ‘Attila’, says accused priest; Alleged abuse; Played favourites, courted gossip, says fellow priest
National Post
25 November 2009
Carol Sanders
WINNIPEG – The priest in charge of the chaplains at St. Boniface General Hospital says one of his employees was nicknamed “Attila the Nun” and another lost his temper after not getting his $10 stipend for saying mass.
Rev. Gerry Ward, the spiritual care director at the hospital, made the remarks while testifying yesterday at an arbitration hearing over a grievance alleging he bullied, harassed and verbally abused three of the hospital chaplains.
Rev. Roland Lanoie, Sister Jeannine Corbeil and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole say when they complained, they were branded troublemakers and had their careers threatened. They are members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.
Sister Corbeil testified earlier that Rev. Ward played favourites, courted gossip and caused a rift among the chaplains.
She said he yelled at her in front of the other chaplains before prayers one day when she asked a fellow chaplain a question. She said he told her later in private that her size and anger intimidated patients and the priest she had been speaking to earlier.
Rev. Ward denied he ever made comments about Sister Corbeil’s size, but told her she intimidated the other chaplains and that they called her “Attila the Nun” behind her back.
When Sister Corbeil said she wanted to discuss the name calling at a staff meeting, Rev. Ward said he refused. “I said it would be like murder for you,” said Rev. Ward. “She’d be placing herself out on a limb.”
The hearing began in May and will continue through December.
Rev. Ward said he suggested Sister Corbeil seek counselling for her anger.
He said another of his accusers was also intimidating members of the spiritual care staff. He said Rev. Lanoie was rude to the department’s administrative assistant, Claire David, when she forgot to e-mail him the work schedule for the week. He said Rev. Lanoie was rude to the assistant again when she told him there would be no $10 stipend for a mass that he said.
“His demeanour was just a little bit over the top for $10,” said Rev. Ward.
Credit: Carol Sanders; Canwest News Service
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Chaplains intimidated others: priest
Winnipeg Free Press
25 November 2009
Carol Sanders
The priest in charge of the chaplains at St. Boniface General Hospital says one of his employees was nicknamed “Attila the Nun” and another lost his temper after not getting his $10 stipend for saying mass.
Father Gerry Ward, the spiritual care director at the hospital, made the remarks while testifying Tuesday at an arbitration hearing over a grievance alleging he bullied, harassed and verbally abused three of the hospital chaplains.
Fr. Roland Lanoie, Sister Jeannine Corbeil and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole say when they complained, they were branded troublemakers and had their careers threatened. They are members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.
Corbeil testified earlier that Ward played favourites, courted gossip and caused a rift among the chaplains.
She said he yelled at her in front of the other chaplains before prayers one day when she asked a fellow chaplain a question. She said he told her later in private that her size and anger intimidated patients and the priest she had been speaking to earlier.
Ward denied he ever made comments about Corbeil’s size, but told her she intimidated the other chaplains and that they called her “Attila the Nun” behind her back.
When Corbeil said she wanted to discuss the name calling at a staff meeting, Ward said he refused. “I said it would be like murder for you,” said Ward. “… She’d be placing herself out on a limb.”
The hearing began in May and will continue through December.
Ward said he suggested Corbeil seek counselling for her anger.
He said another of his accusers was also intimidating members of the spiritual care staff. Ward said Lanoie was rude to the department’s administrative assistant, Claire David, when she forgot to email him the work schedule for the week. He said Lanoie was rude to the assistant again when she told him there would be no $10 stipend for a mass that he had done.
“His demeanour was just a little bit over the top for $10,” said Ward.
The hearing continues today.
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Top chaplain denies abusing staff
Claims unfair, hospital priest tells hearing
Winnipeg Free Press
24 October 2009
Carol Sanders
The priest accused of bullying hospital chaplains in his employ testified for the first time at an arbitration hearing Friday.
Father Gerry Ward said when he took over as director of spiritual care at St. Boniface General Hospital in 2005, he had an “open-door policy” and tried to improve the chaplains’ work environment.
“I met with each employee in the department to discuss their role,” he said. “I was very open to any suggestions.”
Now he’s being accused of bullying and verbal abuse by three chaplains, members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals who have filed a grievance against Ward. Sister Jeannine Corbeil, Father Roland Lanoie and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole accuse Ward of being manipulative and threatening to undermine their careers for speaking out. Murrell-Cole testified earlier that, at one point, he had suicidal thoughts because of Ward’s treatment.
The arbitration hearing has taken place over several days since May and is expected to last into December. Ward’s three accusers have testified, as well as a former chaplain who has since quit.
Tim Frymire, now spiritual care co-ordinator at Riverview Health Centre, was the acting spiritual care director at St. Boniface until Ward was hired. On Friday, Ward described Frymire as “unreliable” when it came to meeting deadlines and “manipulative” for undermining Ward’s authority during meetings by acting like the manager.
“Several times he’d say ‘What Gerry means is… ,’ ” Ward said.
When Ward started his job in November four years ago, he set out to address the concerns of chaplains on staff, he testified. They were working seven days in a row, evenings and weekends.
“It was more akin to the scheduling a nurse would have in a hospital,” Ward said.
He said he wanted to make sure they were “getting the proper work life/home life balance.” He helped to rework the schedule so the chaplains who wanted it were on a Monday-to-Friday day shift.
Ward said he learned some of them were assigned heavier workloads than others.
When he gave all the chaplains new assignments in the hospital, most thought it was a more fair distribution of the workload, Ward said. Some chaplains, though, weren’t in favour of the change. The priest assigned to the mental-health unit didn’t feel capable of handling his new assignment, Ward said. The unit’s long-serving chaplain — Murrell-Cole — didn’t think it was a good idea, either. Murrell-Cole testified earlier that replacing him with someone with no specialized training in mental health was unfair to the patients and to the chaplain. He “flatly refused” to take part in his replacement’s orientation, Ward said.
Ward told the reluctant priest he was qualified to work in any area of the hospital and encouraged him to quietly assume his assignment in the mental-health unit.
“I asked him not to talk to other chaplains about it,” Ward said. But the priest did, and told Frymire, who told Ward “I really think this is a big mistake, that he’s not suited for the job… , that you’re setting him up for failure,” Ward said. He told Frymire the priest was perfectly qualified, and that he had instructed the priest not to speak to the other chaplains about his concerns.
Ward said his authority was questioned, his character was attacked and he received “heavy-handed criticism” from one of the chaplains who filed the grievance.
The aboriginal services department had said it was planning a “cleansing ceremony” in the palliative-care unit to rid it of a spirit, but wasn’t sure when, Ward said. The next week, he said, he was told the ceremony was happening that day. He paged Frymire and Lanoie — chaplains assigned to that unit — to notify them. They both sent him critical emails, said Ward, complaining he should have let them know sooner. Lanoie said he felt Ward wasn’t respecting him, and that the ceremony was “problematic.”
Ward said the aboriginal services department didn’t need his permission for the ceremony, and the chaplains were informed of it as soon as he knew. It was Lanoie’s “heavy-handed criticism” that lacked respect, Ward said.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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Job satisfaction dropped, priest tells hearing
Winnipeg Free Press
07 October 2009
Carol Sanders
A hospital chaplain testified that his level of job satisfaction fell from a “10 out of 10” to a “three or a four” after his new boss took over.
“It was very low,” Father Roland Lanoie told a labour arbitration hearing Tuesday.
Lanoie is one of three chaplains at the St. Boniface General Hospital to testify against spiritual care director Father Gerry Ward. The three spiritual caregivers — Lanoie, a Catholic nun and a non-denominational minister — accuse Ward of bullying and harassment after he was hired in 2005. The hearing, which began in May, reveals a department rife with divisiveness, hurt feelings and fears about job security.
The three complainants, who are members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, say the problems started when Ward took over. The hospital argues that the complaining minister, priest and nun are troublemakers who challenged their new boss.
On Tuesday, the lawyer representing the hospital accused Lanoie of having it in for Ward when he heard the priest was a front-runner for the position.
Lanoie said he asked those doing the hiring at the hospital why, if Ward was such a good candidate, were the bishops not “fighting over him?”
“My question was … why did he not have a parish?”
Lanoie said he didn’t have anything against Ward.
“I was wanting to make sure the hospital had done its homework.”
After Ward was hired, Lanoie said his new boss gossiped about him with a fellow chaplain. Ward told the minister in charge of the mental health wing that a psychiatric patient wanted Lanoie defrocked. The mentally ill man accused Lanoie of lying, and the accusation wasn’t taken seriously, but Lanoie thought his boss should have told him, not a fellow chaplain.
When Ward told the chaplains all their emails to each other had to go through him, Lanoie complained that was bullying. Ken Maclean, the hospital’s lawyer, pointed to an email that Lanoie sent to fellow chaplains in which he said he “deplored” a decision Ward had made. Maclean asked if the spiritual care boss didn’t have the right to put a stop to chaplains using hospital emails to challenge his authority.
Lanoie said management has that right, but he felt it was another bullying tactic to isolate staff and control their communication. Lanoie dropped one of his complaints against his boss at the hearing Tuesday, saying he regretted including it in his grievance. But Lanoie said he’s convinced the work atmosphere in the spiritual care department is still a problem, and he fears anything he says will be misconstrued or used against him.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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Hospital chaplain accuses his boss
Job change forced, arbitration hearing told
Winnipeg Free Press
14 July 2009
Carol Sanders
Workplace email edicts, “vile and offensive” remarks, careers threatened, suicidal thoughts, accusations, and lies.
It’s not a soap opera, it’s a hospital arbitration hearing. The people involved aren’t your average workers, they’re spiritual caregivers — people who answer to a higher power and are held to a higher standard.
On Monday, a hearing resumed for three St. Boniface General Hospital chaplains who claim they were bullied by their boss, a Roman Catholic priest.
The non-denominational minister, a Roman Catholic nun and a priest have filed a grievance that they were verbally abused by the hospital’s spiritual care director, Fr. Gerry Ward.
Fr. Roland Lanoie, Sister Jeannine Corbeil and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole say that when they complained, they were branded troublemakers and had their careers threatened. They are members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals.
On Monday, the first witness, Murrell-Cole, was cross-examined.
When the hearing began in May, arbitrator Arne Peltz heard from Murrell-Cole that he was removed from his position as chaplain in the psychiatric unit and reassigned to other parts of the hospital with twice as much work.
He was told to vacate his office and assigned to share a desk with another chaplain in an office with three other chaplains. At the time, he testified earlier, he was depressed with suicidal thoughts.
“It took a toll on my dignity and my sense of self-worth,” said Murrell-Cole.
He was moved after he was elected as the union representative for the hospital chaplains. He defeated Ward’s “confidante,” an assistant in the department who was listed as a chaplain in the email directory, Murrell-Cole said.
When Murrell-Cole asked his boss just what the assistant’s role is, he said Ward responded: “What’s it to you?”
At a labour hearing Monday, the hospital’s lawyer, Ken Maclean, asked the minister if he understands the hospital has the right to move him.
“You are aware there is nothing in your collective agreement that gives you an assignment indefinitely?”
Murrell-Cole said yes, but explained he was the hospital’s only chaplain with specialized training and a desire to work on the psych ward.
Maclean asked Murrell-Cole if he thought the hospital had the right to decide where to deploy its resources.
“I’m not disputing what the hospital can do,” Murrell-Cole said. He questioned the logic of moving chaplains to other departments for moving’s sake.
“Father Ward said he’d like to move them around every two years,” Murrell-Cole said. “That’s not logical.” It takes two years to learn an assignment, he said. “…I’ve had a number of directors before Father Ward and there has never been an attempt to move me.”
The relationship between Murrell-Cole and his boss started to sour in 2006, he said.
“I did not support Father Ward in a lie,” Murrell-Cole said. Ward had told him a patient with mental illness had complained about priest-chaplain Fr. Lanoie. The patient, a Catholic in Murrell-Cole’s unit, said he wanted the priest-chaplain who had visited him defrocked.
Murrell-Cole said the same mentally ill patient had made similar complaints about other professionals who worked in the department. When Lanoie returned from vacation, he was going to visit the patient and Murrell-Cole told him about the patient’s comments reported by Ward, their boss. Lanoie went to ask the head of the spiritual care department about it and Ward said it was Murrell-Cole who brought up the patient’s complaints. “That’s untruthful,” said Murrell-Cole.
“You wanted to stir the pot,” Maclean suggested to Murrell-Cole.
“It’s a matter of integrity,” Murrell-Cole said. “It was untrue.”
The lawyer asked Murrell-Cole if his conversation with Ward was confidential.
Murrell-Cole said it was his duty to tell Lanoie what Ward said about the patient. “It’s protocol and courtesy” telling a colleague that a patient has issues with them. “This patient’s rights have to be respected. It’s my professional obligation.”
Today, Corbeil takes the witness stand.
When Ward issued an email edict to the chaplains saying they could no longer send emails without his permission, the Catholic nun fired back “Hail Hitler,” Murrell-Cole said.
The nun told him what she had done, and he told her he found that vile and offensive. Then his boss, Ward, told him that a chaplain responded to his edict by telling him to “f__k off,” Murrell-Cole said. He also found that “vile and offensive.”
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
Chaplains’ complaints
‘It took a toll on my dignity and my sense of self-worth,’ Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole testified about his removal from the mental health unit where he worked as chaplain for more than 12 years when the hearing began in May
‘I was accused of going through the secretary’s desk,’ said Sr. Jeannine Corbeil, in an interview. The nun said she denied it, adding Ward had no proof to back up his accusation. ‘He said if we were not happy, HR (human resources) would be happy to help us write resumes’
‘… Everything is confrontational,’ said Fr. Roland Lanoie, a Catholic priest. ‘A question is confrontational. A comment is taken out of context. Conclusions are arrived at without asking any questions. There’s no possibility of clearing the air’
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Chaplain alleges bullying led to suicidal thoughts
Winnipeg Free Press
22 May 2009
Carol Sanders
The chaplain who looked after patients with mental illness at St. Boniface General Hospital claims he was bullied to the point of becoming depressed with suicidal thoughts.
“It took a toll on my dignity and my sense of self-worth,” Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole told an arbitration hearing Thursday.
He is one of three chaplains from the hospital who have filed a grievance accusing their boss, spiritual care director Father Gerry Ward, of bullying and verbal abuse.
Sister Jeannine Corbeil, Father Roland Lanoie and Murrell-Cole allege Ward verbally abused them, threatened to undermine their careers, then labelled them as troublemakers.
Jacob Giesbrecht, the lawyer representing the members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, said two other chaplains have already quit because of bullying since Ward became the hospital’s spiritual care director nearly five years ago. Giesbrecht said the hospital’s chief executive officer was aware of the situation and did nothing about it.
Ward removed Murrell-Cole from his 13-year position in the psychiatric unit after the minister was elected as the union representative for the spiritual care department staff.
Without explanation, Murrell-Cole was kicked out of his office and reassigned to another part of the hospital with twice the responsibilities, his lawyer said.
Murrell-Cole told hearing arbitrator Arne Peltz that he was assigned to share a desk with another chaplain in a tiny office.
There were no chaplains with any psychiatric training, experience or desire to take Murrell-Cole’s place, he said. The non-denominational minister ran group sessions for the mental health patients twice a week as well as making the rounds, assessing patients spiritual needs and counselling outpatients.
He worked with patients for whom there a “spiritual component” to their mental illness, he said.
Murrell-Cole liaised with clergy and advised on whether or not exorcism was appropriate. “Sometimes it is important to do this to normalize behaviours which may seem abnormal in the secular world.”
Ward arbitrarily reassigned the chaplains. The priest assigned to the psych ward was reticent because of his lack of training and experience in that area, said Murrell-Cole. Murrell-Cole told Ward he spent a year training for the position in the mental health unit, and his replacement would only have a matter of days.
The two chaplains together approached Ward to express their concerns. They were dismissed, the hearing was told.
The hearing continues today, then is expected to resume for another nine days in October.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca
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Spiritual-care boss faces grievance
Priest, minister, nun claim they were bullied
Winnipeg Free Press
21 May 2009
Carol Sanders
Three hospital chaplains who claim they were bullied by their boss have taken their grievance to the Manitoba Labour Board.
The priest, nun and non-denominational minister say the spiritual-care director of St. Boniface General Hospital verbally abused them.
“It’s an employer-abuse issue,” Jacob Giesbrecht, lawyer for the chaplains who are members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, told the Free Press on Wednesday.
“The respectful workplace policy was violated again and again.”
The arbitration hearing continues today.
Sister Jeannine Corbeil, Father Roland Lanoie and Rev. Carlyle Murrell-Cole each say their boss, spiritual-care director Father Gerry Ward, bullied them.
“There was verbal abuse, threats to undermine their careers, falsely accusing them and labelling them as troublemakers,” said Giesbrecht.
“I was accused of going through the secretary’s desk,” said Corbeil, in an interview. The nun said she denied it, adding Ward had no proof to back up his accusation. “He said if we were not happy, HR (human resources) would be happy to help us write resumes.”
She said her boss accused her of calling other chaplains names and then told her the other chaplains were calling her names.
She said he issued an edict that all emails had to go through him.
“It’s a communication breakdown in the entire department,” said Lanoie. “…Everything is confrontational,” added the Catholic priest. “A question is confrontational. A comment is taken out of context. Conclusions are arrived at without asking any questions. There’s no possibility of clearing the air.”
Lanoie has been a chaplain at the hospital for more than eight years.
Murrell-Cole, who has specialized as a chaplain in the psych ward for more than a decade, was reassigned after a disagreement with Ward, said Giesbrecht.
“His workload doubled… he was kicked out of his office,” Giesbrecht said.
When each of the chaplains complained, they were “written up” by the hospital, said Giesbrecht.
Dr. Michel Tetreault, president and CEO of the hospital, was aware of the chaplains’ concerns but did nothing to address the problem, said Giesbrecht.
And the three chaplains who have complained aren’t the first, he said.
“Faced with two chaplains who have already quit, and a priest, a nun and a minister who are complaining — if they don’t uphold their right to a respectful workplace, where does this stop?” asked Giesbrecht.
“These are chaplains — they’re dedicated, pious, religious folk just trying to do their jobs,” he said.
The hospital’s lawyer, Ken Maclean, did not return a call for comment from the Free Press late in the day Wednesday.
Arbitrator Arne Peltz denied the hospital’s motion to ban media from covering the hearing, which is expected to last several days.
In the grievance, the chaplains say they want their concerns addressed and have asked for punitive damages.
carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca