Hazard Pay Could Come For Select Metro Employees

The Metro Civil Service Commission is moving forward with a plan to provide hazard pay to some city workers.

Under the proposal, qualified employees could receive an additional $3.13 per hour. Those bonuses would be paid for through a CARES Act reimbursement program.

Eligibility requires that employees have prolonged contact with COVID-19 in a difficult-to-fill job that is considered necessary for preparing, preventing and responding to the virus. All three of those criteria must be met in order to receive the hazard pay. Human Resources Director Shannon Hall said that federal advisors have cautioned local governments not to be too broad with their hazard eligibility.

“These are the tenets that the subject matter experts that advise on federal recovery dollars have said would be an appropriate criteria in order to receive the federal reimbursement, which is an absolute fundamental component of metropolitan government’s ability to offer this program at all,” she said.

During Wednesday’s meeting, some members expressed concerns about instances when an employee may meet some but not all of the requirements.

Hall said that due to the city’s current financial situation and anticipated revenue losses, setting a high bar is the best way to ensure being fully reimbursed.

“If the Metro government had the ability to offer hazard pay and criteria that we could fund, this may look different,” she said. “However, the metropolitan government’s ability to offer this is completely contingent upon its ability to recover these funds through the CARES Act.”

Individual departments will be working to determine eligibility on a case by case basis. It’s unclear how many employees are expected to qualify.