Hundreds of St. Joseph County employees can expect to see an increase in their paycheck soon.
Approximately 400 employees from 13 different departments are eligible for one-time “hazard pay” stipends for working during the pandemic. The stipends will either be $600, $900 or $1,500, depending on the employee’s risk of exposure to the virus.
Elected officials are excluded from receiving hazard pay.
According to the South Bend Tribune, the County Council passed an ordinance establishing stipend amounts last week, and voted unanimously to pass it on Tuesday.
The stipends are estimated to cost St. Joseph County about $440,000.
The county determines the amount of hazard pay each employee receives by reviewing the following:
- $1,500 stipends are reserved for employees who are essential to public health and safety, worked in “tight quarters, in very close proximity” to the public and went without PPE for some period of time.
- Also eligible are employees who interacted at work with someone who tested positive, and those who were infected after being required to attend a large gathering.
- $900 stipends will go to those who had access to PPE but worked in essential, hands-on jobs.
- $600 stipends will go to employees who do not quality for the first two tiers, but were unable to work from home and had to be around other employees, vendors and members of the public.
2 comments
That’s a crock. I havnt had a day off since this started, and even had to pay my health insurance when some people were off and had it forgiven. These people chose to work, I swear these govt entities are so full of crap. I would be willing to bet that the whole thing is about spending the surplus in their budget so they don’t lose it in their next budget. Ridiculous…
Just like they did in Goshen – taking money from taxpayers, many who were probably affected by covid and giving it to govt. employees who probably have not had their hours cut or business shut down. I would guess they all continued to receive their same pay and benefits. If a govt. employee actually got covid and they had to be off work and didn’t get paid during that time then give them the bonus, but to give it to all, even though they weren’t really affected is a slap in the face to taxpayers.