What is the enhanced benefits package announced by the Alliance?
You can read the Alliance announcement here. You also received an email from KP with the details. In general, it includes 80 hours of COVID sick bank for those that test positive for COVID, some expanded testing, childcare grants, and temporary housing for sheltering away from family, if needed. The Alliance knows this does not cover all the concerns, and they will continue to escalate outstanding issues from Alliance locals.
KP has set up an email address and phone number to help access these benefits. Here4You representatives are available seven days a week, from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m. Pacific time at 877-457-4772, option 7. You can also email Here4You@kp.org, which will be monitored 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
What is the Redeployment FAQ?
Our team worked with KP to get this FAQ out to help streamline the redeployment process and help protect OFNHP members. The hope was to make this process easier for the labor pool to follow and clear up outstanding concerns from our members. So far, about 900 employees are in the labor pool, around 600 have been placed and 300 waiting. A new development is that we did get clarification that KP is going to try the best they can to honor vacations and allow us to give back of vacation during the COVID period. If you have issues, please reach out to us.
Does seniority play a part in redeployment?
Yes and no. If your department is shut down and you go into the labor pool, you are entering into a pool with multiple unions and multiple contracts, which has been difficult for them to track and use seniority. The labor pool will attempt to use seniority as best they can, but other factors are also at play, such as skillset.
In some cases, seniority is being used clearly. Example: if there is a clinic that has low census. If only 3 of 5 total nurses are needed to staff it, then seniority will determine who goes into the labor pool and who stays at the home clinic.
What happens if I refuse my redeployment assignment?
Your manager will contact you after you refuse the assignment to see what steps are needed after that. You may ask to be put back into the labor pool. If you cannot, you may need to go on FMLA or unpaid leave. Your manager can assist you in these steps, depending on what your specific needs are.
What if my assignment is not during my normal schedule, like nights or weekends?
When this occurs, you can let the labor pool know what your barriers are so they can try to find a position that works better. They will make every effort to do this. But now that 600 people have been placed, there are a lot of nights and weekends left. If you cannot be placed, then you would move to the process described above with your manager.
Are on-call staff being scheduled?
Some are, yes. The best way to maximize getting hours is by making sure you are as available as possible to the labor pool.
What if the employer cannot find a position for you if you have an Activity RX?
Activity RX is for people who cannot do certain types of work due to medical restrictions. If the labor pool cannot find a position that works with your Activity Rx, then you should connect with Disability Management to request a transitional work position. Unfortunately, there are a limited amount of those assignments, and DM is understaffed and overworked.
So you may have to reach out multiple times to them. Please reach out to us if you continue to have issues. In the meantime, if you are not working, you should contact Matrix to see if you can get a medical leave of absence through FMLA or state leave.
What about concerns about losing health care coverage because my BAH goes below 20 hours?
There are many layers to this question and may depend on your particular situation. We are still working at the national and local level to try and get KP to agree to either freeze BAHs at this time or skip over the July BAH audit. This would help protect people who have lost hours due to low census and our on-call benefited members. We will give updates if we are successful with those negotiations. Alternatively, Governor Inslee did pass a decree that any worker who fits the description of an at-risk person, as described by the CDC, will not have their benefits removed by employees during this time. We have language in our contracts that the state medical leave law that is most beneficial to employees will apply to both Oregon and Washington. This may offer extra protection. You can access that decree here.
For those that work 40 hours normally but are now working 36 hours, are they to be paid 40 hours to make them whole?
The labor pool had been paying the extra hours to make our members whole, but recently it has come to our attention that this was not being practiced evenly across the board. We consider this a violation of our contracts, so we are now taking up that issue in renegotiating the LOU. Please notify us if this problem is affecting you.
What if you are redeployed, work a bit, and then are sent back to the labor pool by KP?
You should be placed back on paid administrative leave and await a new assignment.
What if you are redeployed, but not getting schedules ahead of time?
Unless you hear otherwise, report to duty at your regularly scheduled hours, and you should be furnished with 2 weeks of schedule at that point. If that is not happening, please contact us so we can reach out to get this rectified.
How long can one be off for daycare related issues?
Childcare related issues are protected by state leaves. Contact matrix to get this started. It is generally 90 days of protected leave, and your PTO can be used or taken unpaid if you are out of PTO. You can take this as a consecutive 90 days or intermittently. Also, our enhanced benefits package makes grants available for childcare that may help your family.
What if we are still being told there are not enough laptops to work from home?
We have been told there are indeed still laptops available, but they do take time for IT to process. If you are still being told that laptops are not available, please reach out to the task force so we can assist you.
Is the childcare grant for only school-aged children?
It says “school-aged,” but Kaiser has defined that as 14 or younger. Do apply if you have infants and young children.
How long is it taking to find positions for Activity Rx people?
The timeframe is variable. Some managers can find work at the home site immediately; for others, they must go into the labor pool, and it can take days or weeks. Some are still waiting to be placed. We suggest having a steward assist you or call our team to help if it seems to be taking an excessive amount of time. We also want you to connect with Disability Management to assist as well.
Can on calls use vacation and education days when they are not getting hours?
Yes, we did get confirmation that you may do this.
If a Washington worker has to go to Oregon to work during redeployment, will they have to pay Oregon taxes?
This came up on the call, and we are investigating this question.
If we are remotely working and have to be confidential, can we get the childcare grant?
Unfortunately, you must be reporting to a KP facility to get this benefit.
What are the rules around on-calls accepting or declining redeployment since we are not getting administrative pay?
If the labor pool calls you and offers you a position that is more than your normal required availability, then you can decline the assignment, and you will stay in the labor pool and be called again. If you decline an assignment that is under or at your normal required availability, you will be removed from the pool, and you would need to call your manager to get put back into the labor pool if that is what you want.
Have we had any relief from the attendance policy to help us feel protected during this time?
This is one of the main issues we are discussing with management in the renegotiation of our LOU. Currently, no attendance related discoveries will be occurring, but we are advocating for language that would relieve members from the worry about reaching threshold.