Tag Archives: Accrued PTO

St. Louis hospital offers nurses summers off to retain staff

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https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/compensation-issues/st-louis-hospital-offers-nurses-summers-off-to-retain-staff.html

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The pediatric unit at Mercy Children’s Hospital in St. Louis will give nurses summers off work in an effort to retain staff, KMOV reports.

The nurses who choose the seasonal staffing option would still work full-time — three shifts per week for the pediatric unit’s nine-month busy season (September through May). The nurses can take off from June through August, while keeping full-time benefits, and return to their jobs in September.

“It’s exciting to see what the nurses, coming back to the unit after having three months off and doing whatever they want to do, the excitement they are going to have, the rejuvenation for their practice, maybe having a new spark, interest [or] excitement for nursing,” Justin Travis, the nurse manager for pediatrics at Mercy Children’s, told KMOV.

Seasonal staff will receive a stipend every two weeks to cover insurance costs. They also can use accrued paid time off to pay themselves during the summer and work extra hospital shifts as needed, Mr. Travis said.

The hospital is recruiting pediatric nurses for the positions. The contract year would begin in September, meaning the nurses’ first summer off would be next year.

Hospital officials said they may expand seasonal staffing options to other departments if it works in pediatrics

 

Bon Secours Richmond CEO orders managers, others to take paid leave to reduce expenses

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http://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/bon-secours-richmond-ceo-orders-managers-others-to-take-paid-leave-to-reduce-expenses.html

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Bon Secours Richmond (Va.) Health System CEO Toni Ardabell, BSN, issued an order July 19 mandating select salaried workers at the health system take five paid days off to reduce the health system’s expenses by the end of its fiscal year Aug. 31, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch.

A health system spokesperson said in a written statement to the Times-Dispatch Aug. 10 the order applies only to salaried management and professional personnel who accrued a large number of paid vacation days but had not used them during the first 10 and a half months of the fiscal year. The rule does not apply to employees who “have little or no accrued PTO … [or] those who have just returned from a leave of absence or those who may be getting ready to take one,” the spokesperson said.

Ms. Ardabell’s memorandum, obtained by the Times-Dispatch, called for “full compliance with these instructions,” provided the stipulation does not affect patient care or reduce patient volume. She also wrote management should not attempt to replace employees on leave with “other workers in a way that adds incremental expense.”

“Replacing a salaried employee with an hourly employee you have to pay doesn’t help,” Ms. Ardabell wrote. “However, if another salaried employee who is being paid anyway simply stretches to cover the work of two people for a few days, then we realize the savings.”

The spokesperson said the order does not reflect any financial distress at the health system. Bon Secours is “a financially strong and fiscally sound organization with consistently high bond ratings and financial performance,” she told the Times-Dispatch.