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UIC: Hazard Pay Now, Fair & Just Compensation Next

UIC-Hazard-PayOur members in the hospital and on campus are rising to the occasion to save lives. Hazard pay ensures that those staff are being paid fairly for cleaning the facilities, floating to other departments, and ultimately putting their health on the line for our patients.

With the passage of the CARES act, UIC is set to receive tens of millions of dollars in funding from the federal government to respond to COVID-19. We negotiated with UIC to ensure that resources like this would be spent on differential pay, improved staffing ratios, and proper PPE for frontline staff. You can help us spread the word about this important win by like our Facebook page and share our announcement on social media!

While hazard pay is certainly an important win for essential employees in the short-term, we also know that we must pursue long term and structural solutions to address the pay inequities for all 73 staff. This virus has confirmed the essential spirit of our work and more than ever, our next contract needs to reflect that. To continue the fight for long-term solutions, sign up today to be a contract captain to help keep your co-workers up to date about next steps!

The pay will be available on the April 30th paycheck. If you still have questions about whether your department and job title will receive hazard pay, and how much you can expect, please follow the guidelines below.

Explanation of Differential Pay

  • General Differential for UI Health Employees
    • Hourly Union Employees $2 per hour
    • Salaried Union Employees $400 biweekly

All employees interacting with patients will receive at least the general differential. Please note that the amounts being prorated are for the amount of time you’re physically in the presence of patients. This includes all employees in:

OCC Clinics Ear and Eye Infirmary Clinics
Pathology Labs Inpatient and Outpatient Pharmacies
Mile Square Clinics All Non-COVID Medical Care Units
Concierge Services at UI Health Food Services Cafeteria and Patient Delivery

Interactions include checking patients in, speaking with patients or the public at-large, or performing your normal medical assignment.

  • Very few areas are not covered by this differential:
Information Technology Call Centers
Health Information Management Some Clerical Office Staff
Administration Employees working from home
Food Service Kitchen Staff
  • Vice Chancellor for Administrative Services (VCAS) Differential:
Hourly Union Employees: $1/hr
  • This differential applies to the following titles that report to the VCAS:
Building Service Worker Cashiers
Housekeeper Parking Service Attendants
Building Service Foreman Emergency Medical Technician

COVID Differentials

COVID differentials specifically apply to employees who are working on UI Health designated COVID Positive (COVID+) patient units including employees who go onto units to repair equipment or perform other duties in person. Differentials are calculated based on factors such as

  1. Amount of time in patient rooms
  2. Duties being performed
  3. Risk of infection due to exposure to the patients

The more time spent with a patient and the more work being done in the room, the more the differential increases.

  • Non-Critical Unit Differentials
Employee Status Pay Differential
Hourly Union Employees $4.00/hr
Salaried Union Employees $400/biweekly
Hourly Union BSW/Housekeeper $1.50/hr

This differential is applicable to units treating COVID+ patients who are not critically ill:

  1. 7E Medicine
  2. 7E Step Down
  3. 7E Clinical Decision Unit
  4. Triage Tent Sites
  5. Testing Sites (Mile Square, UHS, Pilsen)
  6. 5W Pediatrics
  • Critical Unit Differentials
Employee Status Pay Differential
Hourly Union Employees $5.00/hr
Salaried Union Employees $500/biweekly
Hourly Union BSW/Housekeeper $2.00/hr

This is differential is applicable to units treating COVID+ patients who are critically ill

  1. Emergency Room
  2. 5W PICU
  3. 6W MICU
  • Reassignment (Floating) Differential
Employee Status Pay Differential
Hourly Union Employees $1.00/hr
Salaried Union Employees $120/biweekly

This differential is applied to employees who are reassigned from their home unit to work on a COVID+ unit (not including VCAS employees) and is an additional rate of pay.

  • Respiratory Therapists Differential
Employee Status Pay Differential
Regular $3.50/per shift
Non-Critical Unit $7.00/per shift
Critical Unit $9.00/per shift

Calculating Your Differential

To calculate your differential, follow the following questions:

  1. Do you work and are a union employee for VCAS?
    • If yes, do you work on a COVID+ unit?
      • If yes, you will receive $1.50 more per hour if the unit is non-critical or $2 more per hour if the unit is critical.
      • If no, then you will receive at least $1 more per hour.
    • If no, then you may not qualify for a differential unless you work at UI Health.
  2. Are you an Hourly or Salaried Union Employee at UI Health?
    • Yes – If yes, do you provide patient care services?
      • If yes, then you will receive at least $2 more per hour if you’re hourly or the $400 biweekly if you’re salaried.
      • If no, then you likely do not qualify for the differential.
    • No – Then you do not qualify for the differential
  3. Are you in a COVID Designated unit?
    • If yes, are you in a non-critical unit or a critical unit?
      • If non-critical, then you will receive $4 more per hour if you’re hourly or $400 biweekly if you’re salaried.
      • If critical, then you will receive $5 more per hour if you’re hourly or $500 biweekly if you’re salaried.
  4. Have you been reassigned to a COVID+ unit that you do not normally work on?
    • If yes, then you will receive an additional $1 per hour if you’re hourly or $120 biweekly if you’re salaried on top of the differential for being in the unit.
    • If no, then you will not get the reassignment/floating differential.

We are truly proud of the work done to get to this point. And while the fight still continues, it’s crucial to see progress like this in the struggle for economic justice. Please note once again that this is effective backdating to March 22, 2020, through a date to be determined by the Campus and Hospital Incident Command Teams in conjunction with City of Chicago and/or State of Illinois Stay at Home directives. Questions? Reach out to Shea Marshall.

Here are three things you can do to continue supporting the fight to protect your fellow UIC workers.

  1. If you have a health or safety concern relating to any of the above issues, please report it here!
  2. If you are not a member, then sign a union membership card today, because when we fight together, we win together.
  3. Sign the petition and share it with your department! Everything we’ve gained so far is the direct result of members standing united.