Hearing Delays – Update
Sandra Mullen, president of the Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union, says officers are leaving for other provincial jobs partly due to the strain of working in an understaffed office.
She says those departures, combined with past and expected provincial budget cuts to the civil service, have created a stressful work environment.
“Our members are dealing with some very stressed clients, be it their client would be both the person who is a resident or both a landlord depending on the circumstances,” Mullen says.
“They’re dealing with extremely stressful situations and not getting information from management about when we’re going to fill these vacancies, exacerbating that situation.”
Normally, 12 officers oversee about 3,500 hearings a year, according to the department. That number dropped to eight, though Service Nova Scotia recently hired one person, bringing the total to nine.
While the province says it has nine officers, Mullen says union members report that vacations and leaves have reduced the active number to as few as three.
In a statement, the department says it is working to resolve the issue. In the meantime, it is asking landlords and tenants who no longer need a hearing to contact the office to cancel.
Source: CBC News: Nova Scotia renters, landlords face 3-month wait to resolve tenancy disputes