Coronavirus In Minnesota: Mayo Clinic To Temporarily Furlough Some Staff And Reduces Salaries
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Mayo Clinic announced on Friday that it will be temporarily furloughing some of its staff and reducing salaries for all non-hourly employees, amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.
Management says the decision was necessitated by the financial impact of adjusting operations to focus on COVID-19.
"The decision to proactively postpone elective patient care was the right one, but it eliminated most of our revenue at the same time we are making critical investments to develop and expand testing, conduct research to help stop the pandemic, and realign our facilities and care teams to treat COVID-19 patients."
Full pay and benefits will be provided to staff through April 28, at which time changes will go into place, according to a news release.
Most Mayo Clinic nurses are compensated by the hour for their work, along with desk attendants, environmental services, and lab or radiology technicians, according to a spokesperson. This means their salaries will not be slashed.
The Mayo Clinic CEO and CAO will take a salary reduction of 20%, while the direct reports of the CEO and CAO will take a 15% pay cut. Consultants and senior administrators will take a 10% pay cut, and salaried allied health staff will take a 7% pay cut.
Out of about 70,000 people working for Mayo Clinic across the United States, about one-third will have pay cuts.
The organization says it won't know the number of staff who are furloughed until late April or early May.
It's unknown when Mayo Clinic's operations will be back to normal.