Essential workers supported Sacramento during COVID-19. Let’s support them with hazard pay

Sacramentans owe a debt of gratitude to the essential workers who have kept our economy functioning at great personal risk during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, lip service is not enough. If Sacramento’s local leaders truly want to express their gratitude to essential workers nothing says ‘thank you’ like cold, hard cash.

To thank essential workers, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and Sacramento’s city council should devote part of the funds they received from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) to provide hazard pay to Sacramento’s essential workers.

The ARP allows local governments to use their federal stimulus funds to dispense up to $13 an hour in hazard pay to essential workers, in addition to their regular wages. Hazard pay can be distributed both retroactively and for the next several months as the worst of the pandemic comes to an end.

Workers covered by hazard pay could include — but are not limited to — grocery store workers, food service workers, sanitation workers and transportation workers. These workers, who have largely been unable to work remotely, face a higher risk of contracting COVID-19 than employees who can work remotely. Because of these increased risks and their comparatively low wages, essential workers have faced tremendous financial hardship during the pandemic.

Oxnard recently embraced hazard pay as a way to relieve some of this hardship. At the beginning of June, the Oxnard City Council voted unanimously to use part of the $2.5 million the city received in ARP funds to provide $1,000 bonuses to essential workers.

The Oxnard measure attracted bipartisan support. Oxnard’s only Republican councilmember, Bryan MacDonald, said he supported the measure because the funds were coming from the ARP and, therefore, would not place an additional financial toll on businesses. In fact, grocery stores in Oxnard voiced support for the measure.

Local governments in Sacramento can adopt similar hazard pay measures using ARP funds. Sacramento County received about $300 million in ARP funds, while five Sacramento cities — Sacramento, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights and Folsom — received a combined additional $174 million in ARP funds.

To maximize the positive impact of hazard pay, Sacramento should use ARP funds to provide workers with lump-sum bonuses, as Oxnard has. A lump-sum payment will give essential workers the autonomy to use their extra pay where they and their families need it most, whether it be on housing costs, medical bills or other expenses accrued during the pandemic.

Sacramento should also enact hazard pay measures at both the county and city levels. In Los Angeles, the LA County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles, Burbank and West Hollywood City Councils have enacted hazard pay measures. The county measure covers workers in unincorporated part of LA County while the city measures cover essential workers within their respective city limits.

Sacramento should follow LA’s multi-faceted approach. While the city of Sacramento is Sacramento County’s largest city, roughly two-thirds of Sacramento County residents do not reside within city limits. Furthermore, more than one-third of Sacramento residents live in unincorporated areas of the county. To ensure fairness and equity, local policymakers across Sacramento County from both sides of the political spectrum must be champions for workers.

Essential workers have been there for Sacramento. Now, we should be there for them.