Mayo Regional Hospital increases benefit for military leave

    DOVER-FOXCROFT — Medical providers who are members of the National Guard or reserve members of the Armed Forces have a supportive environment at Mayo Regional Hospital.

    Mayo has always been committed to protecting the employment rights of employees on military leaves of absence. Employees are granted leaves of absence for military service if they are inducted into the U.S. Armed Forces, or if they are members of the Armed Forces reserves or the National Guard.

    Mayo stepped up its support for service members recently when the hospital revised its military leave policy to add a new benefit for full-time eligible employees who are in good standing and who have been employed at Mayo for one year or more.

    Such employees who are involuntarily called to active duty for periods greater than 30 consecutive days will be paid the difference between total compensation from the military and the regular base wages/salary that would have been earned at Mayo each month, starting at the date the leave begins. The benefit pays up to a maximum of $5,000 per month for the first 12 months of leave.

    “It has long been recognized that those who serve in the military do so for the simple reason they desire to serve and protect our nation, and often do this at pay far below civilian pay scales. Mayo employees who are called up to the active military should not have to suffer a financial loss while they are serving their country,” said Edward J. Hannon, Mayo’s president and CEO.

    Hannon, who is a U.S. Navy veteran, said the military leave policy revision is simply the right thing to do. Mayo has several members of its staff who are members of the Guard and Reserves who are subject to recall. A Physician Assistant in the hospital’s Emergency Department was recently notified that he has been called to active duty in Kuwait with the U.S. Army Reserves Medical Specialist Corps.

    At the conclusion of a military leave, Mayo employees generally have the right to return to the same position held prior to the leave or to positions with equivalent seniority, pay and benefits.