Nurse Retention Incentive Program

The Nurse Retention Incentive Program (the “Program”) will provide financial incentives to help stabilize the healthcare workforce and retain Nurse Practitioners (NP) and Registered Nurses (RN). Subject to the Program terms and conditions set out below, the Retention Incentives that will be paid to the following classifications of eligible Employees are as follows:

• $3,500 for Registered Nurses and Nurse Practitioners;

The Retention Incentives will be made available to eligible Employees in exchange for a one (1) year return in service agreement for the applicable Term. The calculation of Retention Incentive payments will be prorated based on hours worked in the PEINU bargaining units to a maximum of 1950 hours. 

The following is an overview of the specific terms and conditions for application and participation in the Program. 

Application Deadline 

Please note the application deadline to the program has been extended from December 31, 2022 to January 31, 2023.  

Payments for applications received after December 31, 2022 will be processed in March 2023.  

Eligible Employees hired on or prior to September 4, 2022 would receive both their first and second payments in March 2023.  

Eligible Employees hired on or after September 5, 2022 to December 31, 2022 would receive their first payment in March 2023 and second payment in July 2023.

Eligible employees must be hired prior to the previous deadline of December 31, 2022. 

Eligibility Requirements

Nurse Practitioners and Registered Nurses employed by Health PEI (collectively referred to as the “Employees”) are eligible to apply for the Program. 

Full-time and part-time Employees are eligible to apply for the Program. 

Casual Employees are eligible to apply for the Program, provided they work at least 975 hours during the term of the Program. 

Employees on leave (i.e., sick leave, leave of absence, compassionate leave, injury on duty leave, etc.) are eligible to apply for the Program. However, the Retention Incentives for employees on leave would be prorated based on their hours worked during the term of the Program to a maximum of 1950 hours worked. 

Only hours worked within the PEINU bargaining unit are eligible. 

To be eligible for the Program, Employees must be employed by Health PEI, submit an application to participate in the Program, and agree to the terms and conditions for participation in the Program prior to the deadline of December 31, 2022.  All applications will be reviewed for eligibility.

Eligible employees must be hired prior to the previous deadline of December 31, 2022. 

Program Term

For eligible Employees hired on or prior to September 4, 2022, the Program will run for the one (1) year period commencing on September 4, 2022 and ending on September 3, 2023. 

For eligible Employees hired on or after September 5, 2022 to December 31, 2022, the Program will run for the one (1) year period commencing on January 8, 2023 and ending on January 7, 2024.

For the purposes of clarity, eligible Employees must remain employed with Health PEI during their applicable Program Term. An eligible Employee who voluntarily leaves employment with Health PEI or has their employment terminated for just cause during their applicable Program Term will be required to repay the Retention Incentive Payment as set out below. 

Retention Incentive Payments

Subject to the exceptions outlined below, payments of the Retention Incentive to eligible Employees who applied to participate in the Program and agreed to the terms and conditions for participation prior to the application deadline will occur in two installments: 

1. The first payment will be made to eligible Employees at the beginning of the Program; and 
2. The second payment will be made on or around the seventh (7) month of the program. For clarity, this would be March 2023 for employees hired on or prior to September 4, 2022, and July 2023 for employees hired on or after September 5, 2022 to December 31, 2022.

The calculation of the Retention Incentive will be prorated based on hours worked by the employee in their bargaining unit (i.e. PEINU). To achieve the maximum amount, the employee must work 1950 hours within the one (1) year Program Term.  

As Retention Incentive Payments are being made in advance, the eligible Employee’s permanent FTE will be used to estimate the payment amounts. This will require Health PEI to conduct a payroll reconciliation of over or underpayments at the end of the Program Term. Health PEI will compensate any eligible Employees in the event that the payroll reconciliation determines that they were underpaid their applicable Retention Incentive. Any overpayment of the Retention Incentive will be deducted from the Employee’s salary in such bi-weekly payment increments as may be satisfactory to Health PEI and the Employee, provided the repayment schedule is completed within twelve (12) months of the Program end date.    

For purposes of clarity, if the eligible employee is a Registered Nurse and holds a permanent 0.8 FTE at the time of payment the calculation of the advanced payments would be as follows:

1. Payment 1: 0.4 X $3500 = $1400
2. Payment 2: 0.4 X $3500 = $1400

In the event that an eligible Employee voluntarily leaves employment with Health PEI or has their employment terminated for just cause during the Program Term, the Employee will be required to repay any received Retention Incentive Payments to Health PEI.  Where applicable, the Employee’s received Retention Incentive Payments will be set off against any monies owed by Health PEI to the Employee as a result of the Employee’s termination of employment.

For the purposes of clarity, Recruitment and Retention incentives cannot be earned on top of incentives contained within this Program.

The exceptions are as follows:

1. The first Retention Incentive payment to eligible Employees who apply prior to December 6, 2022 will occur on the December 22, 2022 pay date;  
2. Retention Incentive payments to eligible casual Employees will be made at the end of the Program Term; and
3. Payments to eligible Employees on leave will be made when the employee has returned to work from their applicable leave on the closest Program payment installment. In the event the second payment installment has passed, the employee will be paid at the end of the Program.