Golden Valley Health Centers furloughs, lays off a quarter of its staff due to pandemic
Golden Valley Health Centers has furloughed and laid off about 25 percent of its roughly 1,150 employees because of a huge drop in the number of patients it treats as the coronavirus pandemic brings everyday life to a standstill.
The safety net healthcare provider has furloughed about 20 percent of its employees, which means they are off work without pay, with the expectation they will return to their jobs. About 5 percent of its employees were laid off. Golden Valley said positions “at all levels from senior management to clinic staff to support positions were affected” by the reductions.
But the decision and how Golden Valley carried it out — including the lack of notice and not providing employees with severance or help with continuing their health insurance — drew criticism from some of the laid-off employees and the Service Employees International Union Local 521, which said it represents about 700 Golden Valley employees.
SEIU Local 521 President Alysia Bonner said in a statement that Golden Valley should have sought help in the recent federal stimulus that includes aid for nonprofit healthcare providers to keep employees during the pandemic, and called on its board of directors to rescind the layoffs and apply for the federal aid.
“Golden Valley Health Centers’ callous and premature decision to forgo COVID-19 aid options available to healthcare nonprofits is dangerous and unacceptable,” she said in the statement. (COVID-19 is the disease caused by the new coronavirus.)
Local 521 sent a letter Thursday to Golden Valley asking it to apply for the federal aid so it could avoid the layoffs and furloughs and copied local U.S. Reps. TJ Cox, Jim Costa and Josh Harder.
But Golden Valley said there is no guarantee it would receive the funding and it needed to make painful but necessary reductions now, adding it spent hundreds of hours evaluating how and where to reduce expenses.
Golden Valley said it is doing everything it can to keep its doors open and continue to serve patients, both during the pandemic and after it. Golden Valley said it and other health care providers are treating fewer patients because government officials are telling people to stay home unless they are seriously ill and their treatment cannot be postponed.
Golden Valley said it has virtually eliminated its dental practice, optometry and most of its chiropractic services and seen a 50 percent drop in medical visits since Gov. Gavin Newsom’s March 19 shelter-in-place order.
Layoffs took effect immediately
Three Golden Valley employees — who each said they had worked for the health care provider for several years and asked not to be identified because it would harm their chances of finding new jobs — said the layoffs took place the past two weeks, and their last day of work was the same day they were told they were being let go.
They said their health insurance ended Tuesday. They can continue their coverage through what is called COBRA, but that requires them to pay the full cost of their insurance, including the portion Golden Valley had been paying.
“It was shocking,” said one former employee about the layoffs. “We were kind of slow (Golden Valley seeing fewer patients), but we weren’t expecting to get fired. We thought we were going to be furloughed like the other people.
“... They kind of kicked us to the curb. We didn’t do anything wrong. We were just doing our jobs, and they took that away from us, especially during these times. The biggest thing was health insurance. Now we (the employee and her family) have no health insurance. I’ve got to look for health insurance.”
Golden Valley said it understands employees are frustrated and stressed but said it “attempted to extend coverage, but it was not permitted under the health plan,” according to its statement. “We have provided resource information to employees about alternative health insurance coverage options and will offer assistance to ease the enrollment process.”
But when asked by The Bee why it could not provide health care to its laid-off employees, Golden Valley said in a text message: “Our policy is to not turn away anyone regardless of their ability to pay. So we would definitely treat them if they came to us. They would likely qualify for Medi-Cal or (our) sliding fee schedule.”
Golden Valley is what is called a Federally Qualified Health Center, and it said nearly all of the other FQHC providers have laid off or furloughed employees during the pandemic, with many of the cuts deeper than Golden Valley’s.
Golden Valley said the furloughed employees will continue to receive benefits, including health care, through April 30 and are eligible for unemployment. Golden Valley said it hopes to bring them back within 60 days. It said laid-off employees can apply for open positions.
It operates more than 42 clinics and other facilities from Manteca to Los Banos — including several in Modesto — providing medical, dental, pediatric and other care to the uninsured, working poor, homeless and others.
“These are unprecedented times,” Golden Valley President-CEO Tony Weber said in another statement. “In order to make sure we are positioned to meet our patients’ expected health care needs and survive the economic challenges presented by this COVID-19 situation, we had to make difficult decisions.”
‘There was no regard for their employees’
Still, the layoffs were like getting punched in the stomach for the three employees.
“I’m planning on looking for a lawyer to see who would be willing to help us out, me and a group of girls,” said one employee who said she had worked for Golden Valley for more than a decade. “We want to get our story out. It’s pretty unfair, what they did.”
Another employee said the layoffs appeared to be subjective and arbitrary and she will look into her legal options. She added the way Golden Valley conducted them goes against its mission of providing high-quality care to underserved people while treating them with compassion and respect.
“There are lots of professionals who went to work for Golden Valley who could have made more (money elsewhere) but choose to work there because of its mission,” she said. “But there was no regard for their employees.”
This story was originally published April 2, 2020 at 5:57 PM.
