UPDATE 1:20 p.m.: Mayo Clinic has provided additional details about the furloughs and pay cuts.

According to Mayo Clinic, the total number of employees that will be furloughed will not be known until late April or early May.

Mayo Clinic said less than one-third of the nearly 70,000 people working at Mayo Clinic across the nation will have pay cuts.

"The Mayo Clinic CEO and CAO will take a salary reduction of 20%. Neither will receive a 2020 salary adjustment. The direct reports of the CEO and CAO will take a 15% pay cut. Consultants and senior administrators will take a 10% pay cut, and salaried allied health staff will take a 7% pay cut. The rate of pay for hourly staff will not change," Mayo Clinic said in an email to KARE.

"All but our hourly staff, and those employees whose costs are fully paid by an external party to Mayo Clinic, will take pay cuts," Mayo Clinic said. "Most Mayo Clinic nurses are nonexempt and are compensated by the hour for their work. Hourly staff will not take pay cuts."

KTTC spoke with a Mayo employee, John Simonette, Friday afternoon. He says he wasn't surprised by the news.

"I think we all kind of saw it coming. Or if not, maybe you had your head in the sand I guess," Simonette said. "It's a measure I think Mayo has to do to keep going in the long run."

Working as a service technician, Simonette says he is waiting to hear from his supervisor.

Prior to the anouncement, Mayo Clinic postponed elective patient care to better invest in the fight agaist COVID-19.

Senator Carla Nelson says while its a stunning move as the states largest employers, it wasn't completely unexpected.



"When the state needed help with testing and the state could not get through testing in a timely manor, Mayo stepped up," Sen. Nelson said. "Mayo didn't ask for funding for those things. Mayo stepped up and did what was needed. I think this is serious, but we do know that Mayo is going to continue to lead -- not just this coronavirus pandemic -- but its going to continue to lead healthcare."

Sen. Nelson tells KTTC that she is calling on the state for funding, although it is too early to say exactly what that will look like. She says she is confident that we will come out on the other side of the pandemic stronger.

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ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) -- Mayo Clinic announced that due to financial hardship from the COVID-19 pandemic, it will be temporarily furloughing and reducing pay for some staff members in the coming weeks.

Mayo Clinic said it can ensure full pay for staff members through April 28, but after that, the furloughs and reduced salaries will go into effect for some employees.

Mayo Clinic said the decision to postpone elective patient care eliminated most of its revenue, while the organization is making investments to develop and expand testing, conduct COVID-19 research and work to "re-align" facilities to treat patients.

"We will work with our teams in the coming weeks to ensure that our staff are supported, that the duration of this disruption is as limited as possible, and that we are ready to ramp up quickly and resume full operations when it is safe to do so," Mayo Clinic wrote in a statement.

Read the full statement from Mayo Clinic here.