By Tiffany Goodwein

Vernon Recreation dealing with ‘unprecedented’ medical leave

Aug 6, 2019 | 5:30 AM

Greater Vernon Recreation is dealing with an ‘unprecedented’ and ‘unanticipated’ number of staff on sick leave.

Director of Recreation Services, Doug Ross, confirmed they are dealing with an unusual number of employees on sick leave but denies that their absence has affected programs or services.

“We kind of had an unprecedented number of people that were off with injuries,” he said.

Ross could not comment on how many people were off on sick leave, citing privacy reasons, but he told VernonMatters that some medical leaves were due to workplace injuries and others were due to personal illnesses.

Only certified people are allowed to perform much of the work at Recreational Services in order to comply with Technical Safety B.C. and Work Safe B.C requirements and because of this, Ross said staff with similar certification were required to work overtime to cover for those on sick leave.

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An overtime summary with the City of Vernon shows that Recreation Services clocked in $18,879.84 more in overtime wages compared to 2018.

Ross said that despite the seemingly large amount of money spent on overtime, the jump is small considering Recreation Services deals with a multi-million dollar budget every year.

Greater Vernon Recreation has been busy the past few months. According to their quarterly report, 2,477 people registered in programs from April 1- June 30, up two per cent from last year.

The department also played host to 48 major events including Creative Chaos, FMX Mountain Games and the Vernon Vipers playoffs.

by Tiffany Goodwein

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