Mercy system adds
paid parental leave
The Mercy hospital system is now offering two weeks paid parental leave to its 40,000 employees in four states, including Arkansas.
The two weeks of paid leave will be available for new parents and will also be offered to foster and adoptive parents, according to a Wednesday news release. The benefits apply to both men and women equally.
The benefit is available to any employee who works more than an average of 24 hours a week. In Arkansas, 2,307 employees will be eligible in the Northwest Arkansas hospital in Rogers and area clinics; there will be 2,888 eligible workers at Mercy's Fort Smith hospital and clinics; and 141 eligible workers at the hospital and clinics in Berryville.
Paid family leave was one of the top concerns found in a survey of Mercy workers in 2017, according to the release. While the Family and Medical Leave Act allows 12 weeks of time off, there are no provisions requiring any of that time be paid. The act applies to employers with more than 50 workers.
-- John Magsam
12 banks in state
top $1B in assets
Twelve of Arkansas' 96 banks had more than $1 billion in assets on March 31, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
Bank of the Ozarks in Little Rock had the most assets at the end of the first quarter with $22 billion, followed by Fayetteville's Arvest Bank at $17.3 billion, Simmons Bank in Pine Bluff at $15.6 billion, Conway's Centennial Bank at $14.3 billion and First Security Bank of Searcy at $5.4 billion.
Arkansas' banks had a total of $102.4 billion in assets in the first quarter, an increase of about 13 percent from $90.7 billion at the end of the first quarter last year.
Seventy-five of the state's banks have more than $100 million in assets and 21 had less than $100 million in assets.
The banks had a total of $82 billion in deposits and $70.5 billion in total loans and leases, the FDIC said.
-- David Smith
Dillard's slides 5%
as index loses 4.94
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, fell 4.94 to 445.87 Wednesday.
Volume for the index was 17.9 million shares. Dillard's shares fell 5.06 percent.
"Equities sold off in afternoon trading following an increase by the Federal Reserve in the federal funds rate by 0.25 percent along with projections for an additional two rate hikes this year," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 06/14/2018