Alberta nurses' escalating overtime is pushing some of their salaries sky high

Alberta's top-paid registered nurse earned more than $510,000 in 2022, according to public compensation lists recently posted online.

The nurse was one of six public-sector nurses working for Alberta Health Services (AHS) and Covenant Health who earned more than $300,000 in base salary last year — a result that nursing leaders say is only possible from working excessive overtime and on-call shifts during staff shortages.

"I don't think we've seen numbers like that, ever," United Nurses of Alberta (UNA) president Heather Smith said.

Before counting benefits and perks, the top-paid RN received a base salary higher than the president and CEO of AHS or any other executives.

The nurse did not respond to CBC's request for an interview to explain how they had earned the record-breaking pay.

An RN at the top of UNA's salary grid would have to work an average of 77 hours of overtime per week, every week, beyond a 37.5-hour work week, to earn $510,000 in a year, CBC News calculates.

Nurses can also earn premiums working nights, weekends and statutory holidays, and their pay can be more depending whether they have a specialty or if they work in a remote location.

Depending on where they work, and their experience and training, an full-time Alberta RN typically earns about $80,000 to $100,000 a year, Smith said.

A search of AHS and Covenant's salary disclosure tables, which are also called sunshine lists, show record numbers of nurses earning more than $150,000 in base salary last year. All public agencies, boards and commissions must publish sunshine lists by June 30 annually.

Before 2019, no one listed as a registered nurse with AHS or Covenant Health was earning more than $250,000.

In 2017, 122 nurses earned more than $150,000 a year. Last year, five times the number of nurses surpassed that bar.

The counts do not include people classified as nurse managers or registered psychiatric nurses.

Smith said contractual pay increases cannot account for the growth in the number of high earners, and that voluntarily, coerced and mandatory overtime must be driving the trend.

"It's not sustainable," she said. "These individuals cannot continue that level, that intensity of work without rest for a very long time."