RN international experience not recognized in Alberta??

[albertanurse1]

Hy,

I'm sure every single story is different and here I am looking for some info/resources to appeal my employer decision regarding my international experience.

Long story short - I am an RN who studied in Eastern Europe and moved in Canada after 11 years of RN experience. I moved to Quebec in 2007 and it took me 2 years with equivalences, refreshment courses and professional order exam before I become an RN in Canada. Finally I got back into an RN position job and my first employer, McGill, studied my file (references were checked and inquiries were done where I previous worked as an RN) and recognized all my previous international experience as RN. In 2014 I moved to Alberta and it took me a while to become member of CARNA. Now my first employer in Alberta recognized only the Canadian experience ignoring whatever documents I have from Eastern Europe or from Quebec. Considering I had some time off as maternity leave now I ended up only with 5 years experience with my Alberta employer when in fact I'm almost 20 years into RN field

It doesn't seem right to me that all my knowledge and all my experience I use in my daily routine is not rewarded as it supposed to be. Why a employer as McGill was thrilled to hire me in Quebec and recognized all my previous international experience as RN and here, in Alberta, I'm treated almost like a newbie when it comes to salary but I have a lot of responsibilities and a very complex position to fill in?

Please direct me to some laws/precedents I can use to fight my employer decision.

Thanks.

[albertanurse1]

Thanks a lot for the idea dishes, you bet I will take the steps to check this with Alberta Human Rights. I'm just building my case, take a breath for the Holidays and I will see if I can get them to recognize what it is fair because they hired me based on ALL my previous experience and the job I perform and makes them happy is because all the experience I have, Canadian and international. I'll be back here to post the results of my quest.

Thanks again.

[dishes, BSN, RN]

If it turns out, after speaking to human rights that you do not have a legal argument, you may still have an ethical argument to support your appeal. Suggest you look at the power point presentation entitled "Positioning IENs for Success in Canada" by Mukul Bakhshi (Oct 19, 2016) that is available on National Nursing Assessment Service NNAS ca. In the presentation, Bakhshi mentions one of the issues IENs face in Canada "is lower wages -9% less per hour than their Canadian educated counterparts" he also mentions Ontario Hospital Association recommends "human resources departments need to be aware of issues related to hiring IENS,for example how to situate them on pay scales and how to assess their experiences"

Also look at Ontario Hospital Association internationally educated nurses hiring processes (ien.oha.com) and Providence health care in BC, these organizations promote considering international nursing experience when determining salaries.

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

Something that just occurred to me that the OP should be aware of is how Alberta employers count experience. If at any time a person works less than full time - fewer than 37.5 hours a week averaged out over the entire time frame, their place on the pay ladder will be affected. When I moved to Alberta from another province where I was at the top of the ladder, purely based on my date of hire, I had 7 years of experience. But because I worked a 70% FTE for the whole time in the other province, those 7 years worth of hours amounted to 4.9 years here. They "generously" put me on the 5th rung (of 9). It took me another 6 years at 70% FTE to get to the top.

It's just a thought.