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And when more retirees came forward, even Mayor Jim Watson challenged the reporters on the numbers.
With about a dozen people coming to the paper in less than a day, Watson publicly questioned the number, suggesting the reporter hand over their names so he could deal with them.
It turns out he was right. It wasn’t a dozen.
In fact, almost 2,000 retirees were left without their benefit cards when the city transferred from Manulife to Great-West Life Assurance Company.
That’s close to two-thirds of the 3,444 retirees with the City of Ottawa.
Isolated? Not so much.
Documents provided under an access-to-information request have revealed the true magnitude of the problem.
The reporter was first alerted to the issue on Jan. 6. The city had only learned there was a problem a day earlier.
The documents reveal city staff were left scrambling as the magnitude of the problem began to reveal itself.
It’s clear the error was made by Great-West Life, but the city appears to have spent almost as much time in denial as helping the retirees.
In an email to the city, GWL account executive Christine Lenters Daoust wrote on Jan. 8, outlining the issues surrounding the mistake.
“During eligibility mapping at GWL, an error dropped some retirees from a file that resulted in them never being loaded to our system.” she wrote, acknowledging they had received the right and full list the previous November.
“This issue took top priority and a team of 15 people have worked all day yesterday on an expedited solution.”
As a result of the mistake, many retirees found they didn’t exist in the new system. Others had the wrong numbers on their benefits card. Some were covered, but their spouses or dependents weren’t.
Yes, the whole thing was a disaster.
You’d be dismayed to read the number of rewrites and revisions that went into formulating a memo to city council.
In the end, staff decided to delete any reference to actual numbers of retirees affected by the problem.
At that point, staff had realized the number was in the hundreds — and decided to take that out of the memo — instead referring to “some” retirees.
It was, of course, far more than that.
It was a stressful time for retirees, some facing serious medical situations, others simply worried about having to pay for their own prescriptions.
They communicated with each other and quickly realized it wasn’t a small group of isolated cases.
“Apparently I am not the only one who is going through this transfer. Some of the retirees feel abandoned by the city in that the city did not take adequate steps to ensure a smooth transition,” wrote one frustrated longtime former employee.
Asked by a retiree why the city didn’t monitor the situation, here’s what a city flak wrote:
“The transition to GWL has been very successful and this is an isolated incident. The city has been and continues to partner with GWL in the transition. Both the city and Great-West Life are committed to resolving these issues as soon as possible.”
Really?
Doug Wallace, a former city solicitor, was particularly insistent in pushing the city to fix the problem, writing to Watson about the mishandling of the issue.
“As you know the city is contractually bound to provide health benefits to its employees and retirees. I believe that a number of retirees are unable to access their benefits and that failure is due to Great West Life not having a complete list of all insured employees,” Wallace wrote.
“I’m afraid I’m left with the inescapable conclusion that no one in the city appreciated the need to supervise the transition so as to ensure that the names of ALL insured employees were provided to Great West Life or having recognized the duty, failed to carry it out. This failure has resulted in a great deal of stress tor those retirees. who have not received confirmation that they are insured and cannot provide their hospital, doctor, dentist or pharmacist with a number (or) name of their insurer. Jim, someone dropped the ball in the oversight of this transition. Can you find out what happened and how the situation can be corrected quickly? The city’s loyal and long employees deserve this.”
It would seem clear all retirees do.
City staff scramble after accidentally releasing retirees’ medical information
The City of Ottawa has been left scrambling after committing a serious breach privacy in releasing to a reporter the names and some personal and medical information of about a dozen city retirees.
Worse yet, the city didn’t realize the error until notified by this reporter.
“Allow me to begin this response by thanking you for drawing this matter of a privacy breach to the city’s attention,” wrote city solicitor Rick O’Connor, acknowledging human error resulted in the “serious breach.”
The information had been released under an access-to-information request on an earlier fiasco in January in which nearly 2,000 city retirees were affected after the city chose Great-West Life Assurance Company as its new benefits provider
As a result of the leak, the names of residents who’d complained about the loss of their benefits had been released. And in a some cases, they wrote about their health problems and financial situations.
“This is really disappointing,” former city clerk Pierre Page said.
In his capacity as clerk, Page oversaw the access-to-information division at the city. He had heard of breaches in the past, he said, but he couldn’t recall any instance where individuals’ names were released.
Pierre Page, the former city clerk for Ottawa.
In his case, he’d emailed Mayor Jim Watson because a friend with serous health concerns had somehow been knocked out of the system.
His name and the name of his friend were released.
Some names, along with their phone numbers, were made public — including two names in an email originally sent by Orléans Coun. Bob Monette, who had been attempting to find out on behalf his constituents what their status was.
“This obviously shouldn’t have happened,” Monette said.
“People’s personal information should never be revealed.”
Marcel Chartrand also wrote to his city councillor after the initial story about the snafu in changing companies. The transfer to GWL saved the city about $8 million on a $12.7-million contract.
Marcel Chartrand, a retired City of Ottawa employee, had his name wrongly released by the city in an access request by columnist Sue Sherring.
Chartrand said he’d been contacted about the breach by phone by the city but really didn’t understand the issue.
“They said my name sort of stood out, that it was a real hullabaloo, but I really didn’t understand what their concerns were,” Chartrand said. “I guess now I understand why they phoned.
“I’m really glad you phoned and told me what is going on. I don’t know what else to say, I hope it doesn’t lead to anything else.”
He added he’d been at a meeting where retirees like himself were “pretty hot” about the mess with their benefits.
“Really, I’m not sure what to think about all of this,” he said. “It’s not right they released my name. I was only looking for information. So I really don’t understand how this could have happened. Do you think I should be concerned about this?”
Chartrand and a few other employees wondered whether they should band together and sue the city — if only on principle — for breaching their privacy.
Generally speaking, municipalities that breach privacy don’t suffer penalties unless someone sues. But the matter is treated seriously by the province, which demands a particular protocol be followed in explaining how the breach occurred.
Within a couple of days of the retirees’ being informed of the breach, the city attempted to reach residents by phone to apologize. Then it began hand-delivering letters of apology.
Janette Foo, a longtime and respected employee, has been out-of-town but had thought she’d at least receive an email.
She hadn’t.
Doug Wallace, a former city solicitor, had written to staff, and to Mayor Jim Watson, complaining about how retirees were treated during the switch to GWL, questioning the city’s lack of oversight in the transition.
And as someone who really understands the process, he was shocked to learn that his name — along with some of his medical information — had inadvertently been released.
He was even more shocked when told the access request, which is supposed to take 30 days, took almost five months.
While out of town, he has been available by email and cell, but hadn’t heard from the city.
“You mean to tell me it took them (more than four) months to release the wrong information to you? Pathetic! Received no notice that they were going to release the information and as yet, no apology,” he wrote.
查看原文...
With about a dozen people coming to the paper in less than a day, Watson publicly questioned the number, suggesting the reporter hand over their names so he could deal with them.
It turns out he was right. It wasn’t a dozen.
In fact, almost 2,000 retirees were left without their benefit cards when the city transferred from Manulife to Great-West Life Assurance Company.
That’s close to two-thirds of the 3,444 retirees with the City of Ottawa.
Isolated? Not so much.
Documents provided under an access-to-information request have revealed the true magnitude of the problem.
The reporter was first alerted to the issue on Jan. 6. The city had only learned there was a problem a day earlier.
The documents reveal city staff were left scrambling as the magnitude of the problem began to reveal itself.
It’s clear the error was made by Great-West Life, but the city appears to have spent almost as much time in denial as helping the retirees.
In an email to the city, GWL account executive Christine Lenters Daoust wrote on Jan. 8, outlining the issues surrounding the mistake.
“During eligibility mapping at GWL, an error dropped some retirees from a file that resulted in them never being loaded to our system.” she wrote, acknowledging they had received the right and full list the previous November.
“This issue took top priority and a team of 15 people have worked all day yesterday on an expedited solution.”
As a result of the mistake, many retirees found they didn’t exist in the new system. Others had the wrong numbers on their benefits card. Some were covered, but their spouses or dependents weren’t.
Yes, the whole thing was a disaster.
You’d be dismayed to read the number of rewrites and revisions that went into formulating a memo to city council.
In the end, staff decided to delete any reference to actual numbers of retirees affected by the problem.
At that point, staff had realized the number was in the hundreds — and decided to take that out of the memo — instead referring to “some” retirees.
It was, of course, far more than that.
It was a stressful time for retirees, some facing serious medical situations, others simply worried about having to pay for their own prescriptions.
They communicated with each other and quickly realized it wasn’t a small group of isolated cases.
“Apparently I am not the only one who is going through this transfer. Some of the retirees feel abandoned by the city in that the city did not take adequate steps to ensure a smooth transition,” wrote one frustrated longtime former employee.
Asked by a retiree why the city didn’t monitor the situation, here’s what a city flak wrote:
“The transition to GWL has been very successful and this is an isolated incident. The city has been and continues to partner with GWL in the transition. Both the city and Great-West Life are committed to resolving these issues as soon as possible.”
Really?
Doug Wallace, a former city solicitor, was particularly insistent in pushing the city to fix the problem, writing to Watson about the mishandling of the issue.
“As you know the city is contractually bound to provide health benefits to its employees and retirees. I believe that a number of retirees are unable to access their benefits and that failure is due to Great West Life not having a complete list of all insured employees,” Wallace wrote.
“I’m afraid I’m left with the inescapable conclusion that no one in the city appreciated the need to supervise the transition so as to ensure that the names of ALL insured employees were provided to Great West Life or having recognized the duty, failed to carry it out. This failure has resulted in a great deal of stress tor those retirees. who have not received confirmation that they are insured and cannot provide their hospital, doctor, dentist or pharmacist with a number (or) name of their insurer. Jim, someone dropped the ball in the oversight of this transition. Can you find out what happened and how the situation can be corrected quickly? The city’s loyal and long employees deserve this.”
It would seem clear all retirees do.
City staff scramble after accidentally releasing retirees’ medical information
The City of Ottawa has been left scrambling after committing a serious breach privacy in releasing to a reporter the names and some personal and medical information of about a dozen city retirees.
Worse yet, the city didn’t realize the error until notified by this reporter.
“Allow me to begin this response by thanking you for drawing this matter of a privacy breach to the city’s attention,” wrote city solicitor Rick O’Connor, acknowledging human error resulted in the “serious breach.”
The information had been released under an access-to-information request on an earlier fiasco in January in which nearly 2,000 city retirees were affected after the city chose Great-West Life Assurance Company as its new benefits provider
As a result of the leak, the names of residents who’d complained about the loss of their benefits had been released. And in a some cases, they wrote about their health problems and financial situations.
“This is really disappointing,” former city clerk Pierre Page said.
In his capacity as clerk, Page oversaw the access-to-information division at the city. He had heard of breaches in the past, he said, but he couldn’t recall any instance where individuals’ names were released.
Pierre Page, the former city clerk for Ottawa.
In his case, he’d emailed Mayor Jim Watson because a friend with serous health concerns had somehow been knocked out of the system.
His name and the name of his friend were released.
Some names, along with their phone numbers, were made public — including two names in an email originally sent by Orléans Coun. Bob Monette, who had been attempting to find out on behalf his constituents what their status was.
“This obviously shouldn’t have happened,” Monette said.
“People’s personal information should never be revealed.”
Marcel Chartrand also wrote to his city councillor after the initial story about the snafu in changing companies. The transfer to GWL saved the city about $8 million on a $12.7-million contract.
Marcel Chartrand, a retired City of Ottawa employee, had his name wrongly released by the city in an access request by columnist Sue Sherring.
Chartrand said he’d been contacted about the breach by phone by the city but really didn’t understand the issue.
“They said my name sort of stood out, that it was a real hullabaloo, but I really didn’t understand what their concerns were,” Chartrand said. “I guess now I understand why they phoned.
“I’m really glad you phoned and told me what is going on. I don’t know what else to say, I hope it doesn’t lead to anything else.”
He added he’d been at a meeting where retirees like himself were “pretty hot” about the mess with their benefits.
“Really, I’m not sure what to think about all of this,” he said. “It’s not right they released my name. I was only looking for information. So I really don’t understand how this could have happened. Do you think I should be concerned about this?”
Chartrand and a few other employees wondered whether they should band together and sue the city — if only on principle — for breaching their privacy.
Generally speaking, municipalities that breach privacy don’t suffer penalties unless someone sues. But the matter is treated seriously by the province, which demands a particular protocol be followed in explaining how the breach occurred.
Within a couple of days of the retirees’ being informed of the breach, the city attempted to reach residents by phone to apologize. Then it began hand-delivering letters of apology.
Janette Foo, a longtime and respected employee, has been out-of-town but had thought she’d at least receive an email.
She hadn’t.
Doug Wallace, a former city solicitor, had written to staff, and to Mayor Jim Watson, complaining about how retirees were treated during the switch to GWL, questioning the city’s lack of oversight in the transition.
And as someone who really understands the process, he was shocked to learn that his name — along with some of his medical information — had inadvertently been released.
He was even more shocked when told the access request, which is supposed to take 30 days, took almost five months.
While out of town, he has been available by email and cell, but hadn’t heard from the city.
“You mean to tell me it took them (more than four) months to release the wrong information to you? Pathetic! Received no notice that they were going to release the information and as yet, no apology,” he wrote.
查看原文...
