A central Oregon health system will no longer seek reimbursement from employees who may have been overpaid because of a payroll issue.
Earlier this month, St. Charles Health System said it had paid at least 2,000 employees an average of $780, amounting to $2 million in overpaid wages.
This happened after hackers attacked the company that runs the hospital’s payroll account.
Ultimate Kronos Group, the technology company that runs the payroll system of St. Charles, fell victim to a devastating ransomware attack businesses across the US that use system restore and unable to access payroll data.
From late November through January, the hospital paid employees based on the hours they reported during that time, a spokesman said earlier this month.
When St. Charles determined that they had overpaid certain employees, they first asked the employees to return the money.
That drew criticism from the Oregon Nurses Association, which said the hospital had no documentation to back up its claims that employees were overpaid.
According to the Bend Bulletin, Dr. Steve Gordon, interim president and CEO of St. Charles, said in a statement that the health system will seek damages from the payroll company.
Gordon also encourages employees to donate some of their overpaid money to a St. Louis Foundation caregiver relief fund. Charles.
