As a matter of its contract with the Ministry of Health or with a health authority, an employer in receipt of public funding in BC is required to report to the Registry in writing every suspension or termination of an employee for alleged abuse.
A report of suspension or termination of an employee for alleged abuse must be made in writing within seven (7) calendar days of the employer’s notification of the employee of the suspension or termination, and must:
a) identify the employee suspended pending investigation for alleged abuse or
terminated for alleged abuse;
b) the nature of the allegation of abuse against the employee.
The definition of “abuse” for these purposes is the same as the definition set out in the Residential Care Regulation part 5, division 2, section 52 (1) (a) of the Community Care and Assisted Living Act that states: “A licensee must ensure that a person in care is not, while under the care or supervision of the licensee, subjected to
(a) financial abuse, emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect as those terms are defined in section 1 of Schedule D, or
(b) deprivation of food or fluids as a form of punishment.”
Community Care and Assisted Living Act Residential Care Regulation [includes amendments up to B.C. Reg. 10/2010, January 15, 2010]
Schedule D (Section 77 [reportable incidents])
Reportable Incidents
For the purpose of this regulation, any of the following is a reportable incident:
“emotional abuse” means any act, or lack of action, which may diminish the sense of dignity of a person in care, perpetrated by a person not in care, such as verbal harassment, yelling or confinement;
“financial abuse” means the misuse of the funds and assets of a person in care by a person not in care, or the obtaining of the property and funds of a person in care by a person not in care without the knowledge and full consent of the person in care or his or her parent or representative;
“neglect” means the failure of a care provider to meet the needs of a person in care, including food, shelter, care or supervision;
“physical abuse” means any physical force that is excessive for, or is inappropriate to, a situation involving a person in care and perpetrated by a person in care;
“sexual abuse” means any sexual behavior directed towards a person in care and includes any sexual exploitation, whether consensual or not, by an employee of the licensee, or any other person in a position of trust, power or authority, and sexual activity between children or youths, but does not include consenting sexual behavior between adult persons in care.
Note: This regulation replaces B.C. Reg. 536/80.
[Provisions of the Community Care and Assisted Living Act, S.B.C. 2002, c. 75, relevant to the enactment of this regulation: section 34]