An anonymous employee from Liberty (Mo.) Hospital is alleging that the organization has been cutting employee hours due to a December cybersecurity incident, KCTV reported Jan. 3.
"I am a one-income household and I won't be able to pay my personal property taxes, renew my car insurance or make my car payment this month. Things that are usually a struggle to pay at the beginning of the year anyway are impossible," the employee told the publication. "My entire paycheck will cover my mortgage. If I didn’t have savings aside to cover emergencies I would be struggling to pay that. I worked less than 10 hours last week."
On Dec. 19, the hospital was forced to take its computer network offline as it detected a disruption. The incident led to the hospital having to transfer 15 patients to other facilities.
Liberty posted an update on its website Dec. 29, stating that the hospital was working on verifying the details and scope of the incident and had made progress in bringing systems back online, though it still does not have a timeline for recovery.
The staff member mentioned that the hospital has an extra EIB bank designated for purposes such as extended sick leave; however, Liberty is currently not permitting employees to access this resource.
"The hospital has set up a link to sign up to give support to other departments[,] but some of us are unable to do that. For example, I was told to come into work at 7am for my normal shift," the staff member told the publication. "By 8am I was sent home because there wasn't any schedules patients/tests. Things our management knew but wanted to get us in just in case."
In response, Liberty told KCTV that it continues to make progress toward bringing systems and capabilities online and "encourages staff, who may have questions about their schedule, to speak with their manager or directly with an HR partner to discuss opportunities in their own or other departments."