Fair Pay at UK HealthCare: No Cuts to Surge Pay!

UK HealthCare Senior Nursing Management and Administration

We, the employees of UK HealthCare, deserve a work environment that values the extraordinary patient centered care that we provide each day. While many others' work slowed and came to a halt during the 2020 Pandemic, our work vigorously ramped up, and hasn’t slowed since. The Magnet RNs and NCTs of UK HealthCare are still working at this high-level pace in order to keep up with the ever-changing roles of our jobs. We not only perform our own duties of patient care, but we have been forced into taking on the duties of EVS and dietary in the last 2 years. The overworking of high performers is referred to as performance punishment. The recently announced changes to the surge requirements are so drastic that their implementation will be a punishment for 0.2-0.9 FTE status employees who performed highly under past guidelines, with previously qualifying hours no longer eligible for surge rates. We urge our administration to take a close look at the compensation and benefits that PRN and other impacted staff are lacking, such as insurance, opportunities for raises, and leave accrual, and to enact policies that improve upon these conditions and show value for the care we provide to our patients.

In order to continue providing Magnet level care to our patients, we, the undersigned WEPPs and PRN staff, and other UK HealthCare employees, demand the following:

  • The guidelines in place for surge rates as of January 1, 2023 remain in effect, unchanged; including that

  • Surge rates continue to be applied to any hours worked over a staff member’s established FTE; and that

  • Any future proposals affecting surge rates include base rate adjustments that adequately offset potential reductions in surge eligibility or rates.

Many of your PRN and WEPP employees are your senior nurses on many units. These same senior nurses are the ones responsible for training the waves of travelers and new nurses, and performing charge duties. We largely had a hand in the achievement of Magnet in 2021, a phenomenal accomplishment of the frontline staff despite our very poor pandemic working conditions. The new surge change affecting 0.2-0.9 FTE status employees has not been received well due to such harsh implementations, and we feel it is a sign of gross disconnect between us as the frontline workers and our senior administration. We feel that this new change will cause mass staff turnover and ultimately endanger the future for UK HealthCare to retain Magnet status and other critical specialized certifications. We ask that we be adequately compensated for the Magnet RNs, LPNs, and NCTs that we have proven to be. We are valuable! Acknowledge our sacrifices at the bedside and reward us for calling UK HealthCare HOME.

To: UK HealthCare Senior Nursing Management and Administration
From: [Your Name]

_________________________________________________________________
We, the employees of UK HealthCare, deserve a work environment that values the extraordinary patient centered care that we provide each day. While many others' work slowed and came to a halt during the 2020 Pandemic, our work vigorously ramped up, and hasn’t slowed since. The Magnet RNs and NCTs of UK HealthCare are still working at this high-level pace in order to keep up with the ever-changing roles of our jobs. We not only perform our own duties of patient care, but we have been forced into taking on the duties of EVS and dietary in the last 2 years. The overworking of high performers is referred to as performance punishment. The recently announced changes to the surge requirements are so drastic that their implementation will be a punishment for 0.2-0.9 FTE status employees who performed highly under past guidelines, with previously qualifying hours no longer eligible for surge rates. We urge our administration to take a close look at the compensation and benefits that PRN and other impacted staff are lacking, such as insurance, opportunities for raises, and leave accrual, and to enact policies that improve upon these conditions and show value for the care we provide to our patients.

In order to continue providing Magnet level care to our patients, we, the undersigned WEPPs and PRN staff, and other UK HealthCare employees, demand the following:

The guidelines in place for surge rates as of January 1, 2023 remain in effect, unchanged; including that

Surge rates continue to be applied to any hours worked over a staff member’s established FTE; and that

Any future proposals affecting surge rates include base rate adjustments that adequately offset potential reductions in surge eligibility or rates.

Many of your PRN and WEPP employees are your senior nurses on many units. These same senior nurses are the ones responsible for training the waves of travelers and new nurses, and performing charge duties. We largely had a hand in the achievement of Magnet in 2021, a phenomenal accomplishment of the frontline staff despite our very poor pandemic working conditions. The new surge change affecting 0.2-0.9 FTE status employees has not been received well due to such harsh implementations, and we feel it is a sign of gross disconnect between us as the frontline workers and our senior administration. We feel that this new change will cause mass staff turnover and ultimately endanger the future for UK HealthCare to retain Magnet status and other critical specialized certifications. We ask that we be adequately compensated for the Magnet RNs, LPNs, and NCTs that we have

proven to be. We are valuable! Acknowledge our sacrifices at the bedside and reward us for calling UK HealthCare HOME.