Â鶹ŮÓÅ

BJC HealthCare, the area’s largest employer, announced plans Wednesday to increase its minimum hourly pay to $15 per hour. The new rate is a nearly 50% increase from the organization’s current minimum rate of $10.10 per hour. The nonprofit health care organization will raise pay over the course of two years, first increasing its minimum wage to $12.65 per hour on Oct. 27. It will then increase to $14 in fall 2020, and hit $15 in fall 2021. (Merrilees, 10/2)

Thousands of physical, occupational and speech therapists have been laid off as skilled-nursing facilities transition to a new payment model that kicked in Tuesday. Dozens of these therapists have emailed Modern Healthcare saying they have been laid off or had their wages cut as a result of the new patient-driven payment model, which is akin to bundled payments and based on patient assessments and acuity rather than the volume of therapy services. (Kacik, 10/2)

The case highlights a more widespread problem: Because of a loophole, many religious organizations are not covered by a federal guarantee that protects most other workers' pensions, so the workers can get left with nothing. By one estimate, more than 1 million workers and retirees from religious organizations lack this federal protection. (Arnold, 10/3)