EBC Decision Revisited—Wellness Surcharge Indefinitely Delayed

We are pleased to inform our bargaining unit that on Tuesday, August 27, the Employee Benefits Council voted to rescind the wellness decision made earlier this year. This means that the wellness requirement/surcharge is indefinitely delayed until the EBC gathers further employee feedback and conducts further evaluation.

As stated in our previous blog article about this matter, our union’s representatives on the EBC had been led to believe that the OHSU president would break any tie and the surcharge would proceed regardless of how our union voted, and that it was better to vote yes and be an active participant in planning the program than vote no and refuse to participate.

Upon further discussion in recent days, we learned that OHSU did not have the intention to have the president break the tie; our understanding of other aspects of the wellness requirement/surcharge also changed. Because of this, our EBC representatives’ rationale to vote yes also changed. Our union appreciates OHSU’s willingness to revisit this decision, and we are grateful that the entire EBC supported suspending the wellness surcharge indefinitely.

Our union does support employee wellness initiatives and we do want to find ways to save our members’ money on their health-insurance premiums through improved health outcomes. However, it’s clear that we need to gather more feedback from our members before our EBC representatives make decisions about wellness initiatives. In the days ahead, our union’s representatives on the EBC will also be changing. Please stay tuned for additional information.