Confluence Health Giving $625 Bonuses for Workers still on the Job After Vaccination Deadline

Confluence Health is giving bonuses to employees who have remained on the job after the state’s COVID-19 vaccination deadline.

Those workers are each getting a $625 bonus, which will cost the hospital well over $2.5 million in payout costs.

Governor Jay Inslee’s order for all health care workers to be fully vaccinated or have a medical or religious exemption went into effect Monday.

Confluence Health staff members had a 91 percent vaccination rate as of October 8, with more than 200 medical and religious exemptions.  

Roughly 400 Confluence Health workers were not vaccinated as of October 9, about nine percent of the 4,675 people in its total workforce.

If those numbers are still accurate, Confluence Health would be doling out roughly $2.62 million in total bonus payments.

In a letter to employee Confluence Health CEO Peter Rutherford said, “We realize this is a small token, but our gratitude is immense.”

Rutherford’s letter was dated October 19, one day after the vaccination requirement went into effect.

Confluence Health has been dealing with short staffing problems since the pandemic began.

In August, the hospital system had about 500 open positions, roughly 250 more than usual. There were 175 openings for nurses at the time

Confluence hasn’t issued numbers for staffing levels since the vaccination requirement went into effect Monday.  A spokesperson said such information would be released Friday.