The Winnipeg Regional Health Authority has recouped more than half a million dollars it overpaid employees in recent years, but an ongoing battle with unions could see some of that money go right back into the bank accounts of workers.

CBC News reported in January that the WRHA was requesting hundreds of employees return about $1.2 million the health authority alleges it overpaid workers between 2012 and 2015.

At the time, a WRHA spokesperson chalked up the overpayments to clerical errors common to large organizations, and not the centralized payment system introduced in 2012 that has drawn the ire of two unions representing more than 5,000 WRHA workers.

A WRHA spokesperson told CBC News that as of last week it had recovered more than half of the $1.2 million, and 433 employees still owe "overpayment monies but have not entered into a repayment agreement."

Arbitrator sides with union

The Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union represents roughly 4,100 WRHA workers, while about another 1,300 members of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals (MAHCP) also work for the health authority.

MAHCP filed a grievance against the WRHA and its subsequent decision to make deductions from the paycheques of some empoyees who had failed to return the money. The union argued that as of this year, the WRHA began making unauthorized deductions in violation of collective bargaining agreements, which stipulate select employees are only obligated to return money from overpayment if the request comes within 12 months of the payroll error.

Nobody can justify that from a public point of view, that public funds are being used to pay over and above what people are owed for their hard work. - Réal Cloutier, WRHA interim president

The evidence was presented at a hearing at the end of August, and early last month arbitrator Kristin L. Gibson sided with the union and upheld the grievance.

"The parties' rights on this issue are under their collective agreement," Gibson wrote in her Oct. 2 decision.

"I direct that the practice of unilateral deduction must cease and any unitlateral overpayments that have been recovered (where there has been no agreement or third party determination that monies have been overpaid in error) must be returned to the affected employees pending such a determination."​

WRHA files appeal

A WRHA spokesperson said the organization has not returned any of the money in question to affected employees as per Gibson's directive, and confirmed the organization has filed for a judicial review of the October ruling.

Réal Cloutier, WRHA interim president and CEO, says it is the belief of the health authority that it was within its rights to deduct pay based on employment standards legislation.

"Just as if we were underpaying an employee we would have an obligation to repay an underpayment, we expect the same from our employees that if they've been overpaid they repay money the public funds to the health region," Cloutier said.

"To me it's a simple issue of public accountability. We obviously want to get consensus on the part of the labour unions around collecting on overpayments, but at the end of the day nobody can justify that from a public point of view, that public funds are being used to pay over and above what people are owed for their hard work."

He said as a general rule the WRHA tries to make contact with employees to notify them before making such deductions.

WRHA interim president and CEO Réal Cloutier says the health authority believes it was within its rights to make paycheque deductions from employees who had been overpaid. (CBC)

MAHCP president Bob Moroz said the WRHA continues to deduct pay from workers without authorization.

"Our collective agreement language requires that the employer meet with the member to determine first if the overpayment did actually occur, and second to work out a repayment schedule if applicable," Moroz wrote in a statement.

"The employer has decided to ignore this arbitration award and continues to make unauthorized deductions."

Moroz said MAHCP is slated to undergo another round of arbitration with the WRHA to determine whether the health authority has, in fact, violated terms of the collective agreement.

WRHA overpaid $649K this year

Despite the overpayments from past years, the WRHA confirmed it has subsequently overpaid employees $649,000 so far this year alone (Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2017), although $426,000 of that has already been recovered by the health authority. A spokesperson said the vast majority of these issues stem from "timekeeping errors" and a lag between when managers notify payroll about employee departures.

But the Manitoba Government and General Employees' Union claims the ongoing payment issues point to bigger problems.

We believe the WRHA is not following the collective agreement properly and in many cases is looking at unreasonable timeframes to recoup overpayments. - MGEU spokesperson

"We think the fact that overpayments continue to be an issue shows the inadequacies of this payroll system being able to meet the demands of a workforce like the WRHA, which has numerous schedules and pay scales," an MGEU spokesperson said in a statement.

Arbitrator Gibson said it appears that early in the 2012 introduction of the payroll system, "a significant number of payroll errors, resulting in both over and under payments of WRHA employees" occurred.

But, Gibson wrote, evidence on both sides suggests those errors have declined "considerably" since then, and that due to the size of the WRHA workforce (29,000 employees) and variable work hours in the profession, "it's not surprising that errors continue to be made."

Underpayments resolved more quickly: WRHA

There were also underpayments totalling $3.2 million between January and the end of September, all of which have since been resolved, the health authority said.

The health authority says it pays out an average of $122 million per month in employee salaries.

It maintains the overpayments constitute a fraction of overall monthly payments, and that of the roughly 59,000 monthly payments it makes to employees, the system has a "99.9 per cent accuracy rate."

"We continue to work through these matters with various unions as our interpretations differ in this regard. The situation could be addressed more swiftly and efficiently with increased engagement of employees, just as the WRHA addresses underpayments in a swift and deliberate manner."

Bob Moroz, president of the Manitoba Association of Health Care Professionals, says the WRHA is violating terms of a collective bargaining agreement. (CBC)

Moroz said MAHCP members are obligated to repay employers in cases where "an overpayment occurs in good faith and the employer follows the collective agreement."

An MGEU spokesperson said the union believes workers should return "legitimate overpayments" to an employer in a reasonable amount of time defined within collective agreements.

"We believe the WRHA is not following the collective agreement properly and in many cases is looking at unreasonable timeframes to recoup overpayments," the MGEU statement reads.

The matter is expected to be heard at an arbitration on May 16 and May 17 next year, MGEU added.