(WXYZ) — Beaumont Health is temporarily laying off about 2,475 employees and permanently eliminating about 450 positions due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
CEO John Fox will take a 70% temporary pay cut to his base salary.
The other members of Beaumont's executive leadership team will also take temporary pay cuts up to 45 percent of their total compensation.
Beaumont says the staff members who are being temporarily laid off are mostly hospital administrative staff and others who are not directly caring for patients with or without COVID-19.
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The health care organization said it suffered significant losses during the first quarter. After Beaumont began caring for COVID-19 patients five weeks ago, nearly all inpatient and outpatient surgeries and other non-COVID-19 medical services had to be halted.
“I am extremely proud of our team’s rapid response to COVID-19. While many front-line employees have never been busier, other parts of our operations have drastically declined or ceased. We must make difficult, quick decisions now to protect and readjust to an uncertain future,” Fox said in a press release. “We also expect economic pressures on Beaumont and the health care industry to continue well after the COVID-19 initial surge subsides, which is why we made the difficult decision to eliminate 450 positions. We must adjust the way we operate our organization moving forward. This pandemic has changed the delivery of health care, and we will be treating patients with this virus until we get a vaccine.”
Beaumont will also pause or cancel nonessential projects.
“Through this crisis, we have dramatically changed the way we care for patients. We have seen exponential growth in telehealth, new approaches to staffing and a regional perspective to deploy resources and assets,” Fox added. “We will continue to adapt our health care system to deliver the best, compassionate, extraordinary care every day. Despite an uncertain future, I am confident Beaumont will emerge from this crisis as a strong organization.”
Employees who are temporarily laid off can apply for enhanced unemployment benefits through state and federal programs. Those whose jobs have been eliminated will receive a lump sum severance package and can continue their benefits through their severance period.
Impacted employees will be eligible to apply for other open positions at Beaumont and given priority.
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