Information About New York State Health Care Worker Bonus

September 1, 2022

As you recall, on August 8th, I sent out an email (shown in the thread below) sharing the good news that Governor Kathy Hochul announced the New York State Health Care Worker Bonus program, to acknowledge the selfless contributions and commitment of frontline health care workers. This program is being regulated and funded by New York State – but administered by MJHS for our eligible employees. We have been receiving detailed information about our responsibilities as an organization and eligibility criteria for our employees from New York State. While guidance from the State continues to evolve, we have worked through the exceedingly complex requirements that have been established thus far and would like to provide the following additional clarifying details related to the New York State Health Care Worker Bonus program:

• Only select employees of designated provider entities/organizations are eligible to receive the bonus. This means that only certain employees of Isabella, Menorah, MJHS Home Care, MJHS Hospice, MJHS Home Care Solutions and the MedPC may be eligible for the bonus, if they meet additional criteria. Eligibility, and bonus amounts, are further restricted by title/role, salary, timeframe of employment, hours worked and more.  Given the short timeframe to execute the program, the State has extended the filing period for the first ‘vesting’ period only.
• New York State does not define health plans as eligible employers under this program. This also applies to other MJHS businesses. As a result, none of the employees of Elderplan/HomeFirst, MJHS Institute for Innovation in Palliative Care, MJHS Corporate and MJHS Foundation are eligible for the bonus.
• MJHS is required to apply the strict requirements put in place by New York State for this program. MJHS does not set the eligibility criteria for the bonus. The bonuses are being paid by New York State and will be passed through directly to eligible employees by MJHS. As a state-funded program, it is subject to audit. MJHS remains committed to claiming the appropriate bonus for all eligible employees.

We thank you for your continued patience as we work through the complex and continually evolving eligibility requirements. We are unable to respond to individual requests to confirm eligibility at this time, but we assure you that we are making every effort to apply the criteria accurately and will be reaching out to you directly if you meet the eligibility criteria.

Further updates will be provided should new information become available. In the meantime, if you have immediate questions and work for Isabella or Menorah, please contact Mary DiGangi at [email protected]. All other employees should direct questions to [email protected].

I wish you a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend,

Nadine Ferguson
Chief Human Resources Officer

August 8, 2022

Good news! As you may have heard, Governor Kathy Hochul has announced the launch of the New York State Health Care Worker Bonus program. It is designed to acknowledge the selfless contributions and commitment of frontline health care workers while boosting the health care workforce over the next five years. Bonuses will range from $500 to a maximum of $3,000.

New York State has established the eligibility criteria. Bonuses will go to health care workers who provide hands-on health care services, including practitioners, technicians, assistants, support staff and aides. To be eligible, health care workers must earn less than $125,000 per year and have worked a consecutive six months during one or more of the five defined “vesting” periods set by the State. Bonus amounts are determined by the number of hours worked and can be awarded to qualified full-time, part-time, and temporary health care workers.

MJHS is already reviewing the bonus criteria so we can identify all employees who meet the State’s eligibility requirements. If you meet the bonus criteria, you will receive an email from our new dedicated address: [email protected] asking you to fill out the mandatory attestation form. 

While it’s the responsibility of the employer to claim bonuses for its eligible employees, you will be required to fill out the mandatory paperwork/attestation in order to access your bonus and the timeframe for you to respond will be extremely limited. So please keep an eye out for emails from the [email protected] mailbox.

Additional information about the program will be provided as it becomes available. If you have immediate questions and work for Isabella or Menorah, please contact Mary DiGangi at [email protected]. All other employees should direct questions to [email protected].

Thank you,

Nadine Ferguson
Chief Human Resources Officer