Hazard pay or bonus for medical professionals?

[ShakaHoo]

Just curious if anyone believes we will get extra compensation bonus at the end of the year for dealing with COVID19, and the hazardous aspects of all of our jobs.

So far since the COVID19 outbreak we have had

1)  Some police officers and firefighters come to the hospital and clap their hands for us.

2)  A military jet flew over our building for a millisecond, and if we were lucky enough to get outside, could witness it.

3)  A few pizzas from a local restaurant here and there.

 

Many people in other essential fields are getting extra compensation per hour, and lump sum bonuses.  The police officers and other federal agencies out trying to quell the rioting/disturbances are getting paid massive amounts of overtime on a daily basis.  I would argue that our jobs are potentially as lethal and dangerous if not more...

My guess is the end of the year comes, the hospital announces "a poor performance for the fiscal year" due to COVID19, and they announce we don't get a bonus for this fiscal year.  

[Cideous]

1 hour ago, ShakaHoo said:

 

My guess is the end of the year comes, the hospital announces "a poor performance for the fiscal year" due to COVID19, and they announce we don't get a bonus for this fiscal year.  

I think that is going to prove to be a very accurate guess.

[PAinPenna]

Our hospital announced there will be no raises this year - never mind bonuses . 

[Cideous]

The very definition of adding "insult to injury..."

[EMEDPA]

I do not work for a hospital at my primary job, I work for a small, independent EM group. We all got a bonus this week for taking call to cover COVID-19 related surges or illnesses. No one was ever called in for this, but the group appreciated our willingness to be formally available within 90 min and sober. We were not paid for this call at the time (march-may), so this was a nice thank you. I took the most call and believe I got the largest bonus, which was generous, but not buy a new car generous. 

[mgriffiths]

On 6/3/2020 at 6:42 PM, PAinPenna said:

Our hospital announced there will be no raises this year - never mind bonuses . 

same...RVU bonuses earned from last year are being paid out, but they have stated they might not do RVU bonuses this fiscal year.  We also were dealt 10% pay cuts in April and so far no discussion of that ending.  Initially we were promised it would end by May 30th or when furloughed employees returned.  Both have occurred (ALL furloughed employees have either returned to work or been terminated due to their position being cut), but again nothing. It is absolutely ridiculous and I am actively looking for new employment.

[FiremedicMike]

On 6/3/2020 at 2:48 PM, ShakaHoo said:

The police officers and other federal agencies out trying to quell the rioting/disturbances are getting paid massive amounts of overtime on a daily basis.  I would argue that our jobs are potentially as lethal and dangerous if not more...

 

Police officers working overtime are getting paid at their overtime rate for working more hours than normal.  This is quite different than anyone in healthcare getting paid more per hour for working the same number of hours simply because there's an active pandemic.

 

[PbagJones]

My hospital system in NYC gave a $2500 bonus to all employees. I don’t know what is happening with our raises this year though. We usually have to go to a couple of in person leadership/team building classes provided by the hospital to get our raise each year, but they were all canceled this year due to covid

[mgriffiths]

3 hours ago, FiremedicMike said:

Police officers working overtime are getting paid at their overtime rate for working more hours than normal.  This is quite different than anyone in healthcare getting paid more per hour for working the same number of hours simply because there's an active pandemic.

As a salaried exempt employee who was required to work some extra shifts due to the pandemic, I can say that I was NOT paid anything extra (and in fact was forced to take a 10% pay cut as stated above).  So, I don't know about everyone else, but for myself and I'm sure others we worked extra but because we are salaried and don't have a union we didn't get anything extra.

[FiremedicMike]

52 minutes ago, mgriffiths said:

As a salaried exempt employee who was required to work some extra shifts due to the pandemic, I can say that I was NOT paid anything extra (and in fact was forced to take a 10% pay cut as stated above).  So, I don't know about everyone else, but for myself and I'm sure others we worked extra but because we are salaried and don't have a union we didn't get anything extra.

Gotcha, ok back to my hole.

[sas5814]

75% of my department was furloughed 2 months ago. Last weekend I got an email from the board saying my supervision relationship with my SP had been terminated so I called him and asked what was up. My organization fired him because " we are making value based decisions and you are too expensive." He had been with the organization for 6 years and was well liked by staff and patients.

You'll have to forgive me if I am underwhelmed because you might not get a bonus.

[Mayamom]

13 minutes ago, sas5814 said:

You'll have to forgive me if I am underwhelmed because you might not get a bonus.

I am so sorry.    That is just terrible.   If you had a good relationship with the SP maybe  you can stay together?

[Will352ns]

Work EM for a contracted group. We are still taking 20-25% hour reductions.  At the most, we will get an "attaboy" at the end of the year. I am happy to still be working. 

[ohiovolffemtp]

No bonuses at my FT EM job - just very glad I do solo coverage so I didn't lose any hours.  My PT EM job has had massive hour cuts for the PA's: shifts shortened, or replaced with "on-call" shifts with $150 for on-call pay and only 4 hours guaranteed if called in.  This has been brutal for the FT'rs there.

However, I'm seeing ED volumes return to close to pre-COVID-19 levels so hopefully things will return to normal and all of my furloughed and reduced hour colleagues can get back to full employment.

[Twinpines]

At our hospital every employee is getting about $600 in bonus pay for working during the COVID crisis. As a hospital located in a "frontier" (yes it is apparently different from rural and better for reimbursements) county we never actually got COVID patients admitted to the hospital. Patient loads in the ER were down about 25%. As I provide 1st call 24hr coverage, there was no reduction in pay or hours. No one in the hospital had hour reductions because apparently due to our size the federal government pays the salaries of employees that would otherwise be laid off. Seems to be the key is work in small independent critical access hospitals.

[ohiovolffemtp]

At my critical access hospital many staff did have hours cuts: physical and occupational therapy, surgery staff (almost all procedures were cancelled), even in-patient nurses & techs as census dropped, out-patient clinic staff.  The only way many of these folks got hours was the hospital got outside funding to staff a screening desk at the door for all persons coming into the hospital.

[ShakaHoo]

On 6/5/2020 at 8:35 PM, sas5814 said:

75% of my department was furloughed 2 months ago. Last weekend I got an email from the board saying my supervision relationship with my SP had been terminated so I called him and asked what was up. My organization fired him because " we are making value based decisions and you are too expensive." He had been with the organization for 6 years and was well liked by staff and patients.

You'll have to forgive me if I am underwhelmed because you might not get a bonus.

I am sorry that you lost your job that is terrible, however you essentially have proven my point.

These hospitals are run as a business first and foremost, and our safety, compensation, and job satisfaction all seems to be second fiddle.

Your supervising physician was being paid a large salary, and therefore was expendable.  

I was simply saying in other fields, people are granted "hazard pay" or "hazardous benefits."  In our state there are many "hazardous occupations" including police officers, firefighters, anyone who works in mental health facilities, those involved in cleaning up chemical spills, etc.  I believe you could strongly argue that working in a hospital setting is hazardous, as we deal with infectious disease, psychiatric patients, and disgruntled individuals on a daily basis.

I also am a salaried exempt employee.  The hospital can tell me to work 70 hours next week, and my pay remains unchanged.  There are virtually no other hazardous jobs out there, where this applies.

 

[ventana]

The lesson. 
 

NEVER take a salary job in anywhere but an office that is only open 40 hrs a week.  Taking a salary job with out overtime pay is nuts.   
 

[sas5814]

On 6/7/2020 at 5:10 AM, ShakaHoo said:

I am sorry that you lost your job that is terrible, however you essentially have proven my point.

These hospitals are run as a business first and foremost, and our safety, compensation, and job satisfaction all seems to be second fiddle.

Your supervising physician was being paid a large salary, and therefore was expendable.  

I was simply saying in other fields, people are granted "hazard pay" or "hazardous benefits."  In our state there are many "hazardous occupations" including police officers, firefighters, anyone who works in mental health facilities, those involved in cleaning up chemical spills, etc.  I believe you could strongly argue that working in a hospital setting is hazardous, as we deal with infectious disease, psychiatric patients, and disgruntled individuals on a daily basis.

I also am a salaried exempt employee.  The hospital can tell me to work 70 hours next week, and my pay remains unchanged.  There are virtually no other hazardous jobs out there, where this applies.

 

Thanks. I didn't mean to sound like suck a dick. Bad day I suppose. It happens sometimes even though I am pretty sure I'll be fine and things will eventually work out. 

To echo the post above I'd advise never never never be a salaried employee. It is a formula for abuse. The last salaried job I had didn't pay us for hours after 40 (of course) but wanted to cut pay if you didn't work 40 hours for any reason. I had to get the state and a lawyer involved to explain why they couldn't do that. I left for greener pastures as soon as possible.

[DizzyJ]

15 hours ago, sas5814 said:

Thanks. I didn't mean to sound like suck a dick. Bad day I suppose. It happens sometimes even though I am pretty sure I'll be fine and things will eventually work out. 

To echo the post above I'd advise never never never be a salaried employee. It is a formula for abuse. The last salaried job I had didn't pay us for hours after 40 (of course) but wanted to cut pay if you didn't work 40 hours for any reason. I had to get the state and a lawyer involved to explain why they couldn't do that. I left for greener pastures as soon as possible.

I worked for a company that didn't understand what salary meant.  The GM told me he checked "with the IRS" and they said it was okay to dock pay for under 40 hours and not pay for anything over...red flag with that statement.  Then HR would call me every other week and say so-and-so only logged 39 hours and I would re-explain it doesn't matter if they put 39 or 40.  They are salary and came to work every day.  So, PAY THEM!  

I personally don't feel like i should get hazard pay for continuing to do my job.  I'm exposed to potential hazards every day.  It's part of the job.  I work inpatient urology though and we did not see much covid at our hospital.  If I was still working in the ED, in a covid hot spot, I would probably feel different.  

[Boatswain2PA]

On 6/7/2020 at 5:10 AM, ShakaHoo said:

 The hospital can tell me to work 70 hours next week, and my pay remains unchanged.  There are virtually no other hazardous jobs out there, where this applies

Except for those in the military.

And yes, taking care of infected people does put us at a little higher risk, this risk is miniscule compared to the daily risks that some of our military, police, and fire take.

Edited June 14, 2020 by Boatswain2PA

[MediMike]

Police and fire are compensated very well considering they aren't even in the top 10 of careers with high mortality rates, military service members who perform jobs classified as hazardous or those who deploy both receive additional compensation as well. You know that.

Now, I'm not saying we should receive additional $$$ as healthcare providers as I see it as a standard occupational hazard. Next patient could have the rhinovirus or the bubonic plague. 

5 hours ago, Boatswain2PA said:

Except for those in the military.

And yes, taking care of infected people does put us at a little higher risk, this risk is miniscule compared to the daily risks that some of our military, police, and fire take.

 

[CAdamsPAC]

On 6/9/2020 at 11:30 AM, DizzyJ said:

I worked for a company that didn't understand what salary meant.  The GM told me he checked "with the IRS" and they said it was okay to dock pay for under 40 hours and not pay for anything over...red flag with that statement.  Then HR would call me every other week and say so-and-so only logged 39 hours and I would re-explain it doesn't matter if they put 39 or 40.  They are salary and came to work every day.  So, PAY THEM!  

I personally don't feel like i should get hazard pay for continuing to do my job.  I'm exposed to potential hazards every day.  It's part of the job.  I work inpatient urology though and we did not see much covid at our hospital.  If I was still working in the ED, in a covid hot spot, I would probably feel different.  

It's not extra money if you are working more hours, getting paid less for doing a full days work is BS. My former employer decided that we salaried PAs needed to swipe in. I resisted by ignoring the mandated  process for 6 weeks. I still got paid and only complied because the gutless Suits were harassing the kind older lady in my department who processed our payroll while they never said squat to me! Once I got on board the documented 50+ hours didn't generate a larger paycheck!!! At baseline being salaried allows us to  be living examples of BOHICA!

[GetMeOuttaThisMess]

For anyone who asks similar questions; you signed up to be a healthcare provider, you should know what you're getting into, what the position entails, and 'nuff said.  Working extra hours or undesirable shifts then additional pay could be discussed but when I was in the ED and scheduled to be there then I was there at whatever pay rate I agreed to.  Now, if the group needed coverage on a weekend, or overnight on a weekend when a surgical resident should've been there then they paid me at the rate the surgical resident was paid.  Fair enough to me.  It was known as "The rez rate".

[mgriffiths]

1 hour ago, GetMeOuttaThisMess said:

For anyone who asks similar questions; you signed up to be a healthcare provider, you should know what you're getting into, what the position entails, and 'nuff said.  Working extra hours or undesirable shifts then additional pay could be discussed but when I was in the ED and scheduled to be there then I was there at whatever pay rate I agreed to.  Now, if the group needed coverage on a weekend, or overnight on a weekend when a surgical resident should've been there then they paid me at the rate the surgical resident was paid.  Fair enough to me.  It was known as "The rez rate".

I somewhat agree with you, except when PPE is not what it should be.  That is not what we signed up for, or at least not what I signed up for, and then to be required to work in conditions (regarding PPE) that are known to increase our risks or be terminated.  Add on top of that ZERO protections regarding workman's comp or similar if you do contract covid and have a required 14 day MINIMUM quarantine where you either use PTO or receive no pay.  Obviously there is unemployment, but I highly doubt unemployment would cover my salary, even with the extra $600 per week (that is about to expire).  Along with that, our hospital's policy is that ALL patients must wear face masks at ALL times.  Last Friday I had three patients refuse to wear face masks, but per admin they "had to be seen" so I was required to see them or be considered "abandoning patients" (admin's wording, NOT mine)...with no proper PPE for me to wear, only a surgical mask that does almost nothing to protect me from them.  Oh, and we get ONE of these per WEEK.  If for some reason it breaks, gets damp, or whatever you have to show it to your manager and request another like a d@3n kindergartner.  It is insulting.

Lastly, I received a 10% pay cut and zero PTO accrual since 04/01/2020, with no end in sight (and obviously others have as well).  Adding in the lost PTO, it is closer to a 15% (and growing) pay cut.  Again, NOT what I signed up for.

Rant over...and yes I'm salty...