The December ransomware attack against Ultimate Kronos Group, a human resources management company, hindered the ability of several health systems' to process payrolls. Some hospital employees were overpaid after the attack, and health systems are trying to recoup the funds.
Gainesville, Fla.-based UF Health, one of the systems affected, said it is offering several ways for employees who were overpaid to pay back the wages, according to News4JAX.
"The cyberattack was an unforeseen event that UF Health Jacksonville has diligently worked through, and the organization is now working closely with employees to make the remaining reconciliation process as efficient as possible," a UF Health spokesperson told News4JAX.
Employees can pay back the wages in increments over the next five months or give up some paid time off, according to the report. One employee, who spoke to News4JAX anonymously due to fear of retaliation, said human resources told him that the overpayments would be deducted from his paycheck beginning Aug. 11. The employee, a nurse's aid, was overpaid by more than $1,000, according to the report.
Ascension St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis, which was also affected by the attack, began offering repayment options earlier this year for workers who had been accidentally overpaid, according to the report.
Jacksonville, Fla.-based Baptist Health is working with employees to recoup overpayments caused by the cyberattack.
"During the global Kronos outage, Baptist Health paid team members an estimated amount using a combination of scheduled work hours and average pay based on prior pay cycles," the health system said in a statement to News4JAX. "Once actual hours were reconciled against the estimated hours, we determined that some of our team members were overpaid."
Baptist Health is offering employees several ways to make repayments, including using paid time off funds and payroll deductions over multiple pay periods.
"The final amounts owed will be only for the overpayments in 2022; we made the decision to forgive the 2021 overpayments made to team members," Baptist Health said.