Proposed class-action lawsuit claims AHS breached contracts with foreign-trained doctors

A proposed class-action lawsuit filed on behalf of clinical assistants and clinical surgical assistants has been launched against Alberta Health Services.

A statement of claim filed in Calgary Court of King's Bench on Aug. 12 alleges the health authority has failed to pay overtime and provide rest periods to clinical assistants since 2016.

The claim alleges AHS breached and continues to breach terms of employment contracts and its duty of care to the representative plaintiff and class members.

Robert Erickson, the lawyer for representative plaintiff Julia Ionina said he and his client are not prepared to comment at this time.

AHS spokesperson James Wood said AHS cannot comment as the case is before the courts. On Wednesday he told CBC News a statement of defence had not been filed. 

The proposed class action seeks $10 million in general damages, $85 million in special damages and $10 million in punitive damages, plus costs and interest.

The statement of claim says the plaintiff and class members discovered they had not been paid the overtime and shift premiums to which they were entitled when they received an email from AHS on Dec. 23, 2022.

The email said they would receive a retroactive payment for overtime they had previously worked and would continue to receive overtime payments.

"The defendant maintained that the plaintiff and active class members were not eligible for overtime despite making a partial retroactive payment and paying partial overtime payments to the plaintiff and active class members thereafter," the statement of claim says.

None of the allegations have been proven in court. 

Clinical assistants and clinical surgical assistants are foreign-trained doctors who work under doctors' supervision in Alberta. Base salaries, according to an AHS website about the jobs, range from about $63,000 to $155,000.

Their duties include conducting physical exams, writing orders, documenting patient histories and developing treatment plans with supervising doctors.

Ionina, of St. Albert, Alta., worked as a psychiatrist in Russia before immigrating to Canada in 2012. 

She started working as a clinical assistant for AHS around November 2015 at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.