Within the aftermath of a cyberattack on the surface payroll vendor for Scripps Well being, workers, together with a number of COVID Unit nurses, say they haven’t been instantly paid time beyond regulation and bonus cash they’ve accrued throughout the newest surge.
“I really feel undervalued and under-appreciated. I am going to work and I watch individuals die daily,” mentioned a nurse, whose identification NBC 7 agreed to guard.
Kronos, the third-party vendor Scripps Well being makes use of for payroll companies, was the sufferer of a ransomware assault and had been down worldwide since early December, in keeping with the hospital.
The payroll system got here again on-line Monday, in keeping with a Scripps spokesperson, however many workers are nonetheless reeling from the results of the hack.
One nurse mentioned she hasn’t been paid near $5,000 in time beyond regulation and bonus pay since December. It’s taken a monetary and emotional toll, particularly for the reason that cash was anticipated to be in hand over the vacations.
“We stay in a present state of traumatic stress. So to not be paid and proceed to combat this struggle, day in and day trip, it’s a slap within the face,” the nurse mentioned.
Scripps Well being mentioned it carried out “downtime procedures” throughout the Kronos outage. A spokesperson wouldn’t say particularly what downtime procedures entail, and wouldn’t reply particular questions requested by NBC 7.
However in a memo despatched to all Scripps Well being workers and obtained by NBC 7, the corporate mentioned it could proceed to pay staff the identical sum of money they earned on their paychecks from Nov. 26.
“Our downtime process is to re-process the paycheck from a previous pay interval,” the memo mentioned.
However which means ensuing paychecks after Nov. 26 don’t embrace any time beyond regulation or bonus cash earned in December, and now January, in keeping with the nurse.
“We’re dropping loads of nurses that have to handle us,” one RN instructed NBC 7’s Melissa Adan. “And now now we have much less nurses to handle us.”
The dispute comes as hospitals attempt to handle extreme employees shortages introduced on by the most recent COVID surge. Well being care methods are relying on nurses and employees to tackle extra hours.
Within the memo despatched to workers, Scripps Well being mentioned workers will likely be paid as quickly as administratively potential.
“As soon as Kronos entry is restored and your precise timekeeping information from this pay interval have been enter into Kronos, the payroll workforce will carry out an evaluation to find out any underpayment/overpayment based mostly in your precise timecard date from Kronos. If you’re underpaid, we’ll course of a separate test/direct deposit for underpayment as quickly as administratively potential,” reads the memo.
On Monday, a Scripps Well being spokesperson was hopeful worker pay considerations would quickly be resolved now that Kronos is again on-line.
“Kronos got here again up immediately, which is great. Scripps is doing every thing in its energy to precisely calculate our workers’ compensation and can guarantee they’ve been appropriately paid for all hours labored as quickly it’s potential for us to take action,” mentioned Janice Collins Senior Director, Public Relations, Social Media, Content material Advertising for Scripps Well being.
However workers are skeptical and don’t have any strategy to know after they’ll be paid.
“With the dearth of response and communications to this point, I don’t consider an entire lot they are saying. And at this level, I’ve misplaced loads of belief and respect for company administration of this difficulty,” mentioned the nurse.
In the meantime, at the least one nurse says she has filed a declare with the California Labor Commissioner.
In an e-mail change with the state Division of Labor Requirements Enforcement, a consultant mentioned “state legal guidelines require that you just be paid on the designated pay dates for all the hours labored throughout the pay interval. There is no such thing as a exception when the timekeeping system is hacked,” reads the e-mail.
“I want to be paid in the beginning, however I would like Scripps to be held accountable for not paying their workers. Plain and easy,” mentioned the nurse taking motion.
