Stanford Health Slashes Salaries Amid Coronavirus Crisis: Report

STANFORD, CA — Stanford Health Care workers, including doctors, nurses and technicians risking their lives on the front lines of the health care crisis of our time, just learned that they’re about to get a substantial pay cut, according to multiple published reports.

Stanford Health Care emailed employees this week announcing a 20% wage cut it described as a “temporary workforce adjustment,” KRON reports.

“Due to the economic impact of COVID-19, rather than implementing layoffs, SHC is implementing the temporary workforce adjustment (TWA) program,” the email read in part.

“This program is a 10-week program that’s created as part of our cost saving measures and initiatives.”

The pay cuts go into effect on Monday,” KRON reports.

Linda Cornell, a nursing station employee at the hospital of 40 years, told KRON of her reaction to the email: “I was shocked.”

“Here we are the front-line health care workers that are taking care of patients at Stanford and dealing with a pandemic on a front-line basis and then they want to cut us by 20%,” she said.

Stanford issued a statement saying the pay cuts reflect the economic hurt of the COVID-19 outbreak that’s impacted virtually all industries, Palo Alto Weekly reports.

"Stanford Health Care is navigating the unprecedented economic impact of COVID-19 and, as part of this effort, is implementing a temporary reduction in hours across the organization,” the statement said.

“The current pandemic has affected many organizations globally, and we are no exception. This is a difficult but necessary decision to sustain the long-term health of the organization so we can continue to provide critical services to the community."

Front-lines medical workers amid the coronavirus crisis are at high risk of contracting the virus and bringing it home to their families.

More than 9,200 medical workers had tested positive for COVID-19 as of April 15 according to a CNN report, citing the data from the Centers for Disease Control. Among the infected healthcare workers 184 had been admitted to intensive care units and 27 died as of the April 15 reporting.

In some states as many as 20% of known COVID-19 cases were among medical workers, The Guardian reports.

The growing list of medical workers around the world who have died from the coronavirus is available online at Medscape.

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