Seneca employees receive pay raise
Along with the normal laundry list of medical staff reports, policy reviews and monthly financial reports presented at the Jan. 26 Seneca Healthcare District board meeting there were two items that could have a direct impact on the future of the hospital.
First, during the regular session, Seneca Hospital CEO Linda Wagner announced that the hospital employees had accepted the district’s proposal for wage increases as presented to Teamster’s Local 137.
The proposal included compensation increases that vary by position and were established by comparing Seneca’s wage rates with similar hospitals’ pay scales in Northern California as published by the California Hospital Association.
The intent is to bring Seneca personnel into parity with other similar facilities with the hope of retaining qualified staff at the hospital.
In the long run it may also be a cost saving move due to how the hospital is reimbursed for services rendered and the possibility of having to pay higher wages for contract labor that would be needed if current staff decided to leave seeking higher pay.
Last year the employees at Seneca received an across the board 2 percent wage increase.
This year the proposal was based on specific job descriptions and the increases ranged from 2 to 25 percent based on comparable compensation for a specific job in other similar facilities.
The second item was decided as the board went into closed session for the evaluation of the position of chief executive officer for Seneca Hospital.
After the board returned from closed session, Board President Dana Seandel announced their approval to extend the contract of Linda Wagner as CEO for an additional three years.
