'Cruel Hoax' Promised Health Workers Day Off

Health workers in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador thought they had scored something rare: an extra day off. Instead, they got a lesson in cybersecurity that unions are blasting as a "cruel hoax." An email titled "June Holiday" landed in thousands of inboxes, praising staff for grinding through mandatory overtime to launch a new digital platform, CorCare, and offering a paid day off as thanks, the Guardian reports. Workers were told to click a link to register. The next day, they learned it was a cybersecurity test: a phishing simulation designed to see who would click on a fake offer sent from an external domain.

Union leaders say the stunt targeted exhausted employees already struggling with burnout, denied vacations, and high turnover. Jerry Earle, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador Association of Public and Private Employees, said at least one worker quit over it. "Our members deserve better than to be taunted with the promise of a day off," he said. Yvette Coffey, head of the Registered Nurses Union, tells CTV News that the hoax was "insulting, degrading, disrespectful," adding, "Our members are mad and so am I." Interim health board CEO Ron Johnson apologized and promised a review, admitting the test "really missed a mark."

Unions say that's not enough, arguing that while cybersecurity training is essential—especially after a 2021 cyberattack sidelined provincial health systems for months—dangling time off in front of stressed-out staff members crossed a line. McMaster University human resources expert Catherine Connolly tells the CBC that the furious response highlights the strained relations between management and workers. "If people in the organization already felt their contributions were valued, and that the organization cared about their well-being, then they wouldn't have had this reaction to the scam which kind of tricked them into clicking it," she says.