UTICA — The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) has signed an agreement with most of its employee unions that enables members to participate in an “organization-wide, four-month furlough” of about 20 percent of the system’s employees. The unions New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), Communications Workers of America (CWA), and United Food and Commercial Workers […]
UTICA — The Mohawk Valley Health System (MVHS) has signed an agreement with most of its employee unions that enables members to participate in an “organization-wide, four-month furlough” of about 20 percent of the system’s employees.
The unions New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), Communications Workers of America (CWA), and United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA), which MVHS described as “unprecedented” in an April 28 news release.
The fourth union at MVHS — the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA) — rejected the hospital’s offer to furlough the nurses in the St. Elizabeth’s collective-bargaining unit. Instead, it has opted to invoke the layoff provisions in the contract.
That means the affected NYSNA nurses will not receive the same benefits (health insurance, life insurance, disability insurance) as the other union members that accepted the hospital’s furlough offer, MVHS says.
MVHS says the furloughs decision was one of several initiatives undertaken to regain financial stability amid the COVID-19 crisis.
MVHS says it is similar to many other hospitals and health systems across the country that are facing “devastating” financial losses due to investments made in expanding capacity for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients while simultaneously suspending “lucrative” elective surgeries and procedures and reporting a drop in doctor’s visits and patient volumes across the health system.
Furlough details
Furloughed MVHS staff remain employees of the organization and aren’t terminated, the organization explained. As patient and surgery volumes increase, the health system anticipates calling its furloughed employees back to work “as the need arises.”
MVHS also notes that employees who are furloughed can apply for unemployment insurance, including the $600 unemployment benefit add-on from the federal government enacted for the COVID-19 crisis.
Employees will also retain the employer contribution to their health-insurance coverage.
MVHS is planning to suspend employer contributions to the 401(k)/403(b) plans for both furloughed employees and those still working.
The health system has also implemented cost-cutting initiatives that included salary reductions for MVHS leadership and employed providers, a hiring freeze, and a freeze on new tuition reimbursement. MVHS notes that it will pay for the semester tuition that had already been committed.