Lawmakers Disagree With Erlanger Bonuses

"First of all, I need to calm down because I’m pretty upset about this," says Senator Todd Gardenhire.

State senators say the timing of Erlanger’s bonuses couldn’t be worse.

"They’ve just laid off people, they’ve cut back on vacation pay and they cut back on insurance," says Gardenhire.

Trustees closed the doors on lawmakers after legislators disagreed with the idea of bonuses.

"They knew months ago that the legislators did not like the idea of them having a bonus, especially with all the problems they’ve had in the past," says Gardenhire.

The people shut out are the very ones who voted to give Erlanger the right to closed meetings for strategic planning purposes.

"When you’re talking about bonuses and raises, that’s not strategic planning. That’s ordinary business that ought to be out on the table. That’s where they didn’t go through proper procedure," says Gardenhire.

After two closed meetings and a last minute addition to the agenda, Erlanger officials announced 99 managers and CEO Kevin Spiegel will receive a nine percent pay raise as well as a bonus, leaving lawmakers speechless.

"The way they snuck it through was an insult to us," says Gardenhire.

"For an institution that has been struggling financially, you just question the wisdom of that," says State Senator Bo Watson.

But if you ask them, the board alleges Erlanger is financially stable and running on operating income.

"That’s not operating income. That’s not worthy of a bonus. That’s a gift from Heaven," says Gardenhire.

"To use a federal grant that came through the state by way of the county and call it an operating income is a complete falsehood," says Gardenhire.

Both senators consider the employees may have deserved them, but Watson says the reward for hard work isnt the issue.

"I dont have as much a problem with pay for performance as I do increasing someone’s base pay 10% while you’re increasing other people’s pay 2%. I mean theres an inequity there," says Watson.

"It goes back to the old saying, ‘if momma aint happy aint nobody happy!’ Well if you get the employees out there and they’re really upset about this, you’re quality of care is going down," says Gardenhire.

State lawmakers say they’re investigating the legalities of the incident.