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Employees upset after Mountain View Hospital makes changes to PTO policy

Mountain View Hospital | Courtesy Mountain View Hospital Facebook page
IDAHO FALLS — Mountain View Hospital is responding to the “unprecedented” challenges of COVID-19 by temporarily cutting some employee benefits.
In an email to staff members Thursday, CEO James Adamson announced that effective immediately, paid time off (PTO) accrual will be cut by 50%, only four hours can be taken per day (or half the hours of a normal shift) and the hospital’s PTO cash-out rate will drop from 95% to 50%.
“The situation surrounding the coronavirus continues to evolve and change daily and Mountain View Hospital is taking action to ensure, whatever happens, we are ready to respond,” Adamson said in a statement to EastIdahoNews.com. “To protect our company and our team members, we are making temporary changes to our paid time off benefits. As we made these decisions, we did our best to minimize the immediate impacts on our team and their families.”
EastIdahoNews.com received over a dozen messages, phone calls and emails from employees and family members concerned about the changes. All of them requested anonymity but expressed frustration.
“As a MVH employee, I feel it is a bit ridiculous that they are cutting this time in half when we are doing so much to keep our patients safe and healthy,” one worker wrote.
Another said, “All these wonderful hard-working nurses are being put on the front line of the coronavirus outbreak. If anything, they should be paid more during this difficult time. It’s just wrong to ask these nurses to work longer hours and put them and their family’s health on the line, and then be told they are losing vacation time and vacation pay.”
Adamson says the changes are only temporary and are being done “to protect our company and our team members.” In his email to employees, the CEO wrote that he hopes the regular PTO accrual policy is reinstated this summer at the end of the second quarter.
“People’s health, livelihoods and the economy has been thrown into uncertainty,” Adamson said in his statement to EastIdahoNews.com. “We have an amazing team and they work hard to care for the community every single day. However, with fewer patients coming to see us during this time, we had to make some tough choices. The decisions we made will keep our team together through this crisis and beyond.”
Mountain View is known for performing mainly elective medical procedures. An emergency department is located at their sister organization, Idaho Falls Community Hospital.
Below is the full statement emailed to EastIdahoNews.com from Mountain View Hospital CEO James Adamson regarding the temporary changes to employees paid time off.
“The impact COVID-19 is having across our country is unprecedented. People’s health, livelihoods and the economy has been thrown into uncertainty. At Mountain View Hospital, we are committed to weathering this crisis, addressing the needs of our community and keeping our team intact.
The situation surrounding the coronavirus continues to evolve and change daily and Mountain View Hospital is taking action to ensure, whatever happens, we are ready to respond. To protect our company and our team members, we are making temporary changes to our paid time off benefits. As we made these decisions, we did our best to minimize the immediate impacts on our team and their families.
Mountain View Hospital is temporarily reducing the amount of paid time off employees can accrue and limiting the number of PTO hours that can be used each day. We have also temporarily altered the amount of paid time off that can redeemed as a cash payout. We did not make these decisions lightly and these temporary changes will be lifted as soon as possible.
We have an amazing team and they work hard to care for the community every single day. However, with fewer patients coming to see us during this time, we had to make some tough choices. The decisions we made will keep our team together through this crisis and beyond.”
Source: eastidahonews.com

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