LHIN boss fired but still drawing $572,000 in pay
Former Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network boss Gary Switzer earned a salary last year of $289,900 — despite being fired in May.
And he will be paid the same amount again this year in accordance with his contract despite no longer being employed since last spring, LHIN board chairman Martin Girash said Monday.
“He had a long-term contract,” Girash said. “He was the first CEO of the LHIN. As the contract was established back then, his salary continues should he leave the organization prior to his retirement. There will be another year of it.”
Asked why Switzer received such a deal in the first place, Girash responded: “That’s a good question. We don’t do that anymore.
“But 10 years ago they did. The old contracts of 10 or 20 years ago were quite rich that way in a lot of sectors. Today, we look at that as not acceptable.”
Switzer spent 10 years as CEO of the Erie-St Clair LHIN — one of the most powerful jobs in local health care. The organization plans and funds health care in the Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton region.
Switzer’s employment contract spelled out that if he was terminated he was entitled to up to 23 months of severance, which adds up to more than $572,000.
LHIN administration and board members have refused to say why Switzer was let go, with Girash referring to it Monday as a “human resources issue.”
He was replaced by the LHIN’s second in command, Ralph Ganter, who made $213,671 in 2016 as interim CEO, according to the latest Sunshine List of Ontario civil servants earning more than $100,000.
Ganter was appointed permanent CEO last month.
“I do want to say since Ralph Ganter was appointed he has dome a tremendous job,” Girash said. “He has hit the ground running. He has been with us a long time and knows the organization well.”
Switzer’s ongoing paycheques have forced the organization to do some belt-tightening, Girash said.
“The staff has pulled together and worked hard to absorb that cost,” he said. “We are being as efficient as we can and foregoing additional expenses.”
Health-care salaries in general continue to break the $100,000 barrier with more front-line workers than ever hitting the Sunshine List.
This past year, 147 registered nurses from Windsor Regional Hospital made the list — roughly 10 per cent of the 1,400 on staff.
“That’s what the market is driving and they deserve it,” said hospital CEO David Musyj, himself the second highest wage earner in Windsor-Essex County at $410,794, with $12,396 in taxable benefits.
The hospital’s RNs after eight years on a salary grid earn $44.68 per hour, which equates to about $87,000 annually.
They can also earn shift premiums and overtime, which is what carried many of the front-line nurses well above the Sunshine List’s bottom line.
“If they keep this at $100,000 you are going to see a lot of front-line staff piercing that number,” Musyj said.
What the hospital pays its RNs is pretty much equivalent to what they would receive at Detroit-area hospitals — minus the exchange rate — or elsewhere in Ontario’s hospitals, he said.
Windsor Regional’s annual budget stands at $494 million with about 70 per cent of that going toward wages, Musyj said.
Executive compensation within the public sector, including hospitals, is presently under review by the provincial government.
“They are trying to come up with a process so it doesn’t get out of hand,” Musyj said.
“With front-line staff the last few years they have tried to limit (wage increases), not giving us funding increases. But if we think we are going to constrain health-care budgets by reducing front-line staff salaries, that’s not going to happen. That’s not the solution.”
Wage increases for those employees have averaged about 1.4 annually over the past five or six years and “you are not going to get it much less than that,” he said.
But if we think we are going to constrain health-care budgets by reducing front-line staff salaries, that’s not going to happen. That’s not the solution.