Noting that none of its employees have been laid off or seen their pay and benefits diminished, MaineHealth today released details on how it is redeploying staff amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

“In an effort to provide financial security and assurance to our employees at a time when so much is being demanded of them, we have decided that all MaineHealth employees who are sent home for any COVID-19 related reason will receive their regular pay and benefit and will not be required to use paid time off,” said Judith West, chief Human Resources Officer of MaineHealth.

As part of planning for the pandemic response, MaineHealth has postponed elective procedures and non-urgent medical appointments.  As a result some care team members have naturally seen their work hours reduced, or in rare cases, have seen their work houses totally eliminated.  These employes continue to receive the same level of pay and benefits they had prior to the pandemic, meaning if a 40 hour-per-week employee is not working for 10 hours a week, they are still being paid for 40 hours.  Across the healthcare system, which employs 22,000, about 12% of employees have seen a reduction in the number of hours on the job and less than 2% have seen all their shifts eliminated.

West said, however, that the staffing situation is very fluid as planning for the pandemic responses develops.  A part of the process MaineHealth is evaluating on an ongoing basis the licenses, certifications and skills of its employees, and where appropriate reassigning them to roles in support of the COVID-19 response.

“Our care team members are eager to help in any way they can,” said West.  “Our goal is to keep our staff resources intact so that we can meet the challenges that might arrive as the outbreak progresses.”