MRC Pontiac refuses to divulge information on staff leave and sick days

MRC Pontiac refuses to divulge information on staff leave and sick days

A little over two weeks after receiving a request for information from CHIP 101.9, staff at the MRC Pontiac have refused to divulge any information regarding the amount of leave or sick days that their staff have taken over the past five years.

The request, which was sent on August 4 and confirmed on August 8, sought information from the MRC regarding their number of staff, as well as the number of sick days or days of leave that staff have taken over the past five years, broken down by department.

On August 22, MRC clerk Travis Ladouceur responded on behalf of MRC Director General and head of access to documents, Bernard Roy, with the following message:

“The MRC does not compile leave data for employees,” he wrote. “This data, which is confidential personal information, is kept in each employee’s personal file.”

Ladouceur noted that CHIP 101.9 has the ability to appeal the decision to Quebec’s access to information commission. At the time of publishing, the MRC still hadn’t provided any information on the overall number of staff employed over the past five years.

Elected officials also in the dark

Following this response, CHIP 101.9 contacted six elected officials, some of whom sit on the MRC’s HR committee, to find out if they were aware of the situation. All of them said that they had never had an overview or assessment of the amount of leave or sick days used. All those interviewed expressed concern about the staff retention rate at the MRC office, recruitment difficulties and general human resources management within the MRC.

At a special meeting in July, the council of mayors signed off on an investment of approximately $20,000 in the field of human resources training, but deemed any further details confidential.