Hundreds of Sudbury, Ont., hospital employees get T4s with wrong information, says nurses' association

The Ontario Nurses' Association (ONA) says hundreds of its members have received T4 slips with incorrect information from Health Sciences North hospital in Sudbury.

In some cases, employees received tax slips that said they made $40,000 more than their actual salary, said Bernie Robinson, the association's interim president.

Robinson said wrong information can have a big impact on workers' tax returns, adding that many of the nurses she represents are single-income earners supporting their families.

"They need to be supported by tax credits like the child tax benefit," she said.

The ONA represents some 2,000 nurses and front-line health-care workers at the hospital.

The association says it has filed numerous grievances in hopes the hospital can resolve the issues.

Robinson said the hospital has had longstanding issues with the payroll system it introduced in July 2022, and that it should have anticipated problems around tax season.

The ONA told CBC News that the situation at HSN is "unique."

Health Sciences North said it introduced the new payroll system, by a company called Kronos, to fully digitize its human resources systems and integrate payroll and scheduling.

Last summer, when the hospital adopted the system, some nurses weren't paid overtime they were owed, while others had to get paper paycheques because direct deposit wasn't working properly, the ONA said.

In an email to CBC News, Health Sciences North spokesperson Jason Turnbull said the hospital is aware of issues with some employees' T4 statements and has dedicated resources to follow up with impacted staff members directly.

"We sincerely apologize for the frustration this has caused our employees," the email said.