Sacramento County essential workers to get COVID bonuses. Here’s who, and how much
Sacramento County plans to give a one-time bonus of $1,500 or 40 hours of administrative time off to thousands of public employees as a form of hazard pay for working during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The money comes from a federal coronavirus relief package President Joe Biden signed last year, which authorized government agencies to distribute special pay to essential workers.
Supervisors in November set aside $11.4 million from money the county received from the American Rescue Plan Act last year to be used for “premium payments” for essential workers such as sheriff’s deputies, firefighters, nurses and more.
Workers have not received the bonuses. The county is still negotiating with labor unions about the plan.
Some employees say the county should distribute bigger bonuses, which are allowed under the coronavirus relief law.
Child Protective Services worker LaTroya Flournoy, who read a letter during a Jan. 11 county Board of Supervisors meeting said employees in her department have worked an average of 3,840 hours since the COVID-19 emergency began.
That means a $1,500 lump sum would only equate to about 39 cents per hour, Flournoy said.
The American Rescue Plan Act doesn’t require localities or states to offer hazard pay, but does set a cap at $13 per hour up to a maximum of $25,000 per worker.
Under the county’s plan, some workers would receive a $1,500 one-time lump sum payment, while employees who meet the essential worker criteria but are not eligible to receive a lump sum would be credited with 40 hours of administrative time off, according to the pending board resolution and agreements already reached between the county and some local unions.
The hazard pay will come from $150 million the county received in its first phase of American Rescue Plan Act funding.
The county allocated the largest share of that total, about $59 million, toward programs combating homelessness. The county also dedicated $20 million to health care related initiatives including COVID-19 mitigation, another $20 million to economic recovery efforts, $15 million toward administrative costs and a little over $5 million to each of the county’s five supervisorial districts.
Ann Edwards, the county executive, said in November’s meeting that allocations were guided by responses to community surveys.
Sacramento County is set to receive another $150 million funding from the federal spending package in May. Officials have not yet determined how that money will be spent.
Who qualifies as an essential county employee?
The federal legislation defines essential sectors as including “health care, public health and safety, childcare, education, sanitation, transportation, and food production and services,” as well as any other sector “deemed critical to protect the health and well-being of residents” by the state or locality receiving the funding.
In a November presentation, the county additionally defined essential work as “work that is not performed while teleworking from a residence and includes regular in-person interactions with patients, the public or coworkers, or regular physical handling of items that were handled by patients, the public or coworkers.”
Workers must have been hired by the county starting no later than July 1, 2021, and employed continuously through at least Jan. 15, 2022, and have performed essential work in-person since March 5, 2020, to be eligible for the hazard pay, according to the county resolution.
Which unions have reached agreements on hazard pay?
According to the resolution, the county has identified 18 bargaining units representing essential workers.
The county has reached agreements with eight, including those representing administrative workers, accountants and law enforcement management.
Ten others have not reached agreements, including the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriff’s Association, Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 and unions representing county-employed nurses, architects, engineers and environmental workers.
The premium payments would go to union-represented as well as unrepresented essential county employees, according to the board agenda item.
What are the terms of eligibility?
Agreements already reached with the above eight labor unions lay out some of the criteria for represented workers.
Those receiving either form of hazard pay must have been hired no later than July 1, 2021, and been continuously employed through Jan. 15, 2022.
Those receiving a lump sum of $1,500 must have worked at least 120 hours at the job site since March 5, 2020, and must have a maximum annual pay of no more than $102,318 including overtime and other bonuses, according to the agreements reached with the eight bargaining units.
Essential workers who do not meet those hours worked or wage criteria will qualify for 40 hours of administrative time off, which must be used by June 30, 2024.
Administrative hours will be pro-rated for part-time employees.
When will Sacramento County hazard pay go out?
The county could authorize premium payments before reaching agreements with all 18 bargaining units, but some elected officials expressed concern about how that may affect ongoing negotiations.
“We could certainly hold on this until all other bargaining units are complete,” Edwards, the county CEO, told the supervisors during a Jan. 11 board meeting.
County supervisors continued the item from the Jan. 11 agenda to this Tuesday’s meeting to allow additional bargaining to proceed, but the item was then pulled from this week’s agenda, which county spokeswoman Kim Nava confirmed was because of ongoing bargaining.
This story was originally published February 8, 2022 at 5:25 AM.
