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| Lewis County Health System to Place 35 Employees on Temporary Unpaid Leave of Absence April 16, 2020 05:30 p.m. By: Nick Altmire |
that the health system will be placing 35 employees on an unpaid leave of absence, for up to eight weeks, as the financial impacts of the COVID-19 crisis continue to mount at the organization. Mr. Cayer said that the health system lost over $1.9 million in March, with the first two weeks of April showing similar results. Much of the loss can be attributed to the fact that all elective surgeries have been put on hold state-wide by executive order. This resulted in an 80 percent reduction in outpatient surgeries in March. The current plan is to reduce the workforce through voluntary and/or involuntary unpaid leaves of absence. Mr. Cayer said he hoped they could reach the goal of 35 full time employees, about 7 percent of the workforce, through a voluntary process. If that can't be achieved it would go to an involuntary basis. The leaves are scheduled to last for 8 weeks and will be re-evaluated every two weeks. Impacted departments at the hospital will include administration, financial services, ancillary hospital functions, clinical practices and acute nursing. Mr. Cayer said that the residential healthcare facility (nursing home), home health, hospice, environmental services and dietary departments will not be impacted. Employees taking the unpaid leave will be eligible for enhanced unemployment benefits, in addition to keeping their health insurance. For those in the NYS retirement system, the leave would not count as a break in service. Hospital administrators plan to meet with the staff in small groups over the next few days to identify 35 employees to take the leave, with the goal of starting the leaves of absence from April 20-22. Mr. Cayer made the announcement during a scheduled press conference this afternoon with Lewis County officials, with our full video included below. |
