By RUI HOSOMI/ Staff Writer
August 2, 2020 at 13:20 JST
The Tokyo Women’s Medical University Hospital in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward (Asahi Shimbun file photo)
The Tokyo Women’s Medical University Hospital decided to pay a summer bonus to its employees after hundreds of nurses threatened to quit over its initial plans for nonpayment.
The bonus will be equivalent to around one month of basic salary, about half of last year’s levels, reflecting the difficulties the hospital is facing during the novel coronavirus pandemic, sources said.
Although the hospital has not disclosed the size of the bonus, nurses are expected to receive between 200,000 yen and 300,000 yen ($1,900 and $2,850) on average, the sources said.
Last year, the summer bonus was equivalent to 2.1 months of basic salary for nurses and 1.8 months of basic salary for doctors and other employees, the sources said.
In June, with the nation’s health care system focused on treating COVID-19 patients, the hospital, located in the capital’s Shinjuku Ward, decided to forgo summer bonuses, citing plunging revenue from a decrease in non-coronavirus patients.
The hospital’s decision attracted much attention after the nurses threatened to walk out. The issue was even taken up in a Diet debate.
The hospital earlier said it would reconsider its nonpayment decision because it had secured financial resources for the bonus.
“I will be happy if I can receive something, but I suspect that if the issue hadn’t caused such an uproar, the hospital would have no intention to pay anything,” said a nurse at the hospital.
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