WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center will furlough leadership and administrative employees beginning either next week or in early May because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the center’s top executive says.
Dr. Julie Ann Freischlag said in a memo that the furlough period would last 16 weeks, although it’s not clear how many furlough days or weeks employees will be required to take, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
“While all of these efforts are underway, they can only do so much to offset the temporary but substantial losses that have been induced by COVID-19,” Freischlag said.
The memo also said that management, from the vice presidential level and above, and department chairs will take pay reductions of between 20% and 30% during the furlough period.
Freischlag said that preparation and planning for COVID-19 “has resulted in significantly lower patient volumes in several services and less revenue for our entire health care system, resulting in a net economic gap of tens of millions of dollars per month.”
Wake Forest Baptist has 19,220 employees overall. It owns and manages Davie, High Point and Wilkes medical centers. Earlier in April, Wake Forest Baptist said it had no plans for layoffs.
Also this week, Vidant Health announced furloughs, reduced salaries and cuts to employee benefits at its hospitals because of the COVID-19 outbreak.
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