Kaiser Benefits Average Hours (BAH) and Temporary Weekend Services Update

Good news! Our actions and strong union contract moved Kaiser to reinstate healthcare benefits for many of our co-workers! We have two important updates: Benefits Average Hours (BAH) for on-call employees and temporary weekend services.BAH for on-call employees:ON-call employees who lost benefit status due to services being closed, therefore not being scheduled to work were adversely impacted in loss of benefits, we shared the many stories of how this was impacting you and your family and finally was able to put enough pressure on Kaiser to do the right thing. Please see the summary below of the criteria the employer used to determine and honor your earned BAH prior to COVID hitting. If you believe that you meet these criteria and have not been contacted about reinstating your benefits, please contact your Steward and have them help you.Reinstatement:

• Employees who dropped from Level 3 (benefits-eligible) to Level 4 (benefits-ineligible) as a result of the BAH evaluation in July 2020, will be reinstated to Level 3 effective 08/01/2020.
• Employees who lost benefit eligibility due to a change in job status (not due to BAH) will not be reinstated.

Retaining coverage:

• Employees who are Level 3 (benefits-eligible) will remain Level 3 through March 31, 2021, regardless of the results the next BAH evaluation (January 2021).
• Employees who lose benefit eligibility due to a change in job status (not due to BAH) will not retain coverage.

Temporary weekend services due to backlog:Since many offices and services were closed due to COVID, many services are backlogged, and departments are looking to open temporary services on weekends to catch up on our patients’ healthcare needs. Below is the agreement with the employer surrounding how to staff these weekend hours, please read through them carefully and make sure your department is following them. If you believe the weekend staffing process is not being followed correctly. Please contact your Steward.This applies to all departments that normally do not work Saturdays and/or Sundays.

1. Weekend hours will be considered an Extra Shift/hours
2. These shifts will be picked up voluntarily by staff in accordance with the contract, they will be offered at ST, OT and DT (all offered before inverse seniority applied)

a.  Offer to EE at ST first/no volunteers then,b.  Offer to EE at OT/ no volunteers then,c.  Offer to EE at DT/no volunteers

1. If the employer fails to fill an extra weekend shift/hours as defined above through volunteers, the extra weekend shifts may be filled by inverse seniority. The EE may elect to work the required extra shift at OT or take a regularly scheduled day off during the week.
2. No department will rebid their schedules to accommodate the temporarily added extra weekend shift/hours
3. Employees will continue to work their current schedule and coded hours and can elect to pick up extra weekend shift/hours

No employee will be forced to work weekend shift/hours once final schedule is posted, the employer will offer OT and DT to cover call outs for extra weekend shifts/hours.Questions? Call the Kaiser Member Resource Center at 503-236-4949 x220.