Colusa (Calif.) Regional Medical Center is having difficulty making payroll until it is slated to close April 22.
Colusa Regional Interim CEO and Chief Restructuring Officer Wayne Allen told employees in late March that the hospital and its three clinics were closing. In a letter to staff on Thursday, Mr. Allen told employees they would be receiving their paychecks a week late, according to the Appeal-Democrat.
"We were not able to meet payroll today — Friday — and that was communicated to our employees yesterday in writing," Mr. Allen told the Appeal-Democrat. "There were some of our Medicare and medical payments that did not come through as expected."
Colusa Regional employees were also told they would not immediately receive payouts for accrued paid time off. Mr. Allen told the Appeal-Democrat staff will probably receive their payouts over the next 60 to 90 days.
The hospital is also about a month and a half behind on paying payroll taxes.
"That's not at all acceptable practice — either one of them — and it's one of the reasons we're in closure mode," Mr. Allen told the Appeal-Democrat. "I can appreciate (the employees') anger and their frustration — people work because they need the money. It's terrible that it happened, but we can't go down to the bank and get a loan for the money, and I'm not going to allow people to sign checks if they are going to get sent to the bank and bounce."
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