Healthcare workers at NUMC on Monday, April 6, 2020 in...

Healthcare workers at NUMC on Monday, April 6, 2020 in East Meadow. Credit: Howard Schnapp

The union representing thousands of front-line hospital workers at the financially struggling Nassau University Medical Center is at odds with hospital leadership over when and how to distribute hazard pay to employees, after up to $6 million was approved for the expense.

NuHealth chairman Robert Detor said the amount of hazard pay distributed will depend on how much federal reimbursement NuHealth receives as compensation for health services provided during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NuHealth board approved the spending for hazard pay at its last meeting on May 14.

Detor said the board has “agreed in concept” to compensation for employees but said there was “no agreement that’s what we’re going to pay.”

"They all are heroes for the work they did, the board and the corporation wants to give them something, but we have to find out what we can afford, where we can get it from, and to do the best we can for them," Detor said. "The question for us is not timing … we want to make sure we select the best option for the employees."

Detor said in an interview Tuesday that funding for hazard pay must come from a "supplemental" source.

‘"The hospital can’t pay it, period," he said. "The hospital has no excess cash.”

Lynne Kramer, NUMC unit president of the Nassau Civil Service Employee Association Local 830, said the union has filed a class action grievance against the corporation, in an effort to secure hazard pay immediately for employees of NUMC in East Meadow and the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility in Uniondale.

"I want [NuHealth] to give it sooner because I want them to enjoy it," Kramer said of her unit's more than 3,000 employees. "This way they can recharge their battery and take a rest themselves."

"I don't want them to get it in the fall, when maybe they could've taken a summer vacation with their children when they're off from school," Kramer said.

“Everybody’s still receiving instructions on what’s legitimate expenditures and how to spend money and stuff like that,” Detor said.

Others have called for hazardous duty payments for front-line workers.

On April 20, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said health care workers, police, transit workers and others deserved a federally funded 50% bonus.

“They are the ones that are carrying us through this crisis, and this crisis is not over,” Cuomo said. “I think any reasonable person would say we should right this wrong.”

Northwell Health, which operates 19 hospitals — including 11 on Long Island — has established a bonus of $2,500 and a week of paid time off for eligible nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists and other patient caregivers.

The Nassau Interim Finance Authority took over NUMC's finances in February. Last week, the financial oversight board hired a "turnaround" consultant to review NUMC's operations and recommend changes.

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