SSM Health, the St. Louis-based owner of St. Mary's Hospital in Jefferson City, announced Monday it will place about 2,000 employees on furlough.
The company is not publicizing information about how many employees will be affected in Jefferson City, according to Jessica Royston, marketing and communications manager for the SSM Health Mid-Missouri Region.
Royston told the News Tribune on Friday that the local hospital continues to hire for a variety of positions.
"In fact, we have hired nearly 40 new staff members since the beginning of March," she said. "In terms of layoffs, SSM Health is experiencing the same financial challenges that health systems across the country - and the world - are facing."
The hospital's first priority is to ensure the continued health and safety of patients and employees, she said.
At the time, she said the health system was monitoring the financial situation and looking at avenues to reduce unnecessary costs and expenses.
She said the company was doing all it could to minimize any potential negative affects of the pandemic on its employees.
But the hiring hit a freeze Monday.
Royston said in Monday's news release that the health care system is moving forward with market-based pay increases for employees, but executive compensation is frozen. And SSM Health is placing a hold on filling open positions that are not considered critical.
"We've reduced expenses in our support functions by 20 percent and paused or deferred non-critical capital expense projects, while freezing discretionary expenses for the year," Royston said.
Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City confirmed last week about 90 employees had accepted voluntary furloughs while the pandemic continues.
Jefferson City Medical Group announced about 40 layoffs in late March.
The SSM Health furloughs will affect about 5 percent of the company's workforce.
Once normal operations return at SSM Health, the company intends to provide special one-time return-to-work adjustment to assist with the difference in pay if an employee isn't reimbursed at their full base pay through unemployment programs, according to Monday's news release.
SSM Health is also covering the cost of health benefits for furloughed employees.
Furloughs are expected to last 13 weeks, but employees could be brought back sooner.