UH Geneva (Ohio) Medical Center, part of Cleveland-based University Hospitals, has reneged on a promise that nurses would receive a COVID-19 appreciation bonus in April, according to the union that represents them.
Hospital administrators committed in December to giving nurses and other employees a COVID-19 appreciation bonus from additional federal pandemic aid, the Ohio Nurses Association said in an April 19 news release.
However, hospital administration recently told union members they are excluded from this bonus — a decision that sparked questions from nurses given the role they have played on the front lines of the pandemic, according to the union.
"These last two years have been extremely difficult for all of us who directly cared for patients with COVID. It was heartbreaking to watch them fight so hard day in and day out, but we did it because we cared about our patients and we wanted the best for them," Shannon Sayles, RN, said in the release. "When the hospital went back on their commitment to pay nurses a COVID appreciation bonus, it was offensive. It made me sad that they disrespected the work we had done the last two years."
In a statement shared with Becker's, University Hospitals said it announced the $1,250 bonuses late in 2021 for eligible employees who were in regular-status roles as of Dec. 31 and are still employed through the date of the bonus payment later in April.
"The bonuses are a well-deserved recognition of above and beyond service during this extraordinary period of time," the statement said.
The bonuses exclude managers and above, those who are not compliant with the CMS COVID-19 vaccination mandate and union employees, with the hospital saying in its statement that their compensation "is dictated by the collective bargaining agreement."
But the union said the hospital told staff the bonus would be awarded to "all regular status employees, including our residents in training, other than managers and above and physicians."
The Ohio Nurses Association said it filed a grievance for discrimination as well as an unfair labor practice charge with the National Labor Relations Board.