The ailing city Health and Hospitals system just axed 70 workers despite a restructuring report issued in April that promised no layoffs.
Some of those cut worked at the flagship Bellevue Hospital Center where staffers said the layoffs came without warning last week.
“They call you up and say come to HR and the next thing you know, you’re being escorted out,” one staffer said of her pink slip.
One insider said 15 Bellevue employees were cut, but administrators for the hospital system would not provide details on where the layoffs took place.
“Our senior managers identified approximately 70 redundant managerial level, non-clinical positions that are no longer essential and have been eliminated. The identified redundancies have been addressed, so no future actions are needed,” said system spokesman Robert de Luna.
De Luna called the cuts “part of routine, good business practices” and said they would not impact patient care.
But last year’s restructuring plan, called “A Bridge to Better Health,” painted a different picture.
“The City and Health + Hospitals is committed to no layoffs,” the report said.
Plans called for reducing the workforce through attrition and “partnering with labor to retrain workers.”
The report said the system, which includes 11 hospitals, more than 70 clinics and employs more than 40,000 workers, “is on the edge of a financial cliff.”
The restructuring plan included $2 billion in annual city subsidies to make up for revenue shortfalls.
Mayor de Blasio’s office did not return a request for comment.
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