Labor advocates say Connecticut too frugal with pandemic pay

Not long after the coronavirus struck Connecticut more than two years ago, many state officials pledged the state would financially recognize those who risked their lives to maintain essential services.

But labor advocates are predicting the $30 million “premium pay” program the General Assembly and Gov. Ned Lamont will launch next month for essential private-sector workers is far too modest. Planned payments, ranging from $200 to $1,000 per worker, may have to be proportionally reduced based on demand.

And the program also has some glaring holes, they say. Workers who fed the poor, or who staffed gasoline stations, weren’t “essential” enough to earn a pandemic bonus.

“I think that’s a drop in the bucket,” Rep. Robyn Porter, D-New Haven, cochairwoman of the legislature’s Labor and Public Employees Committee, said of the $30 million approved to compensate privatesector workers who kept vital services operating.

“We believe that anyone who took on a risk during the pandemic should be for the risk,” said Connecticut AFL-CIO President Ed Hawthorne. The approved $30 million “probably won’t be enough. We hope that the governor and the General Assembly will recognize that.”

At the legislature’s direction, Comptroller Natalie Braswell’s office is developing an online portal through which frontline workers in private-sector jobs can apply for special pandemic compensation.

On paper, full-timers in occupations from “1A” or “1B” of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccination priority lists are eligible for grants ranging from $1,000 to $200, with payments decreasing as income rises.

Part-timers — working less than 30 hours per week — can apply for a $500 grant.

Any essential worker earning more than $150,000 per year is ineligible, as are all people, regardless of income, who worked remotely.

Some of the front-line workers in these categories include health care personnel, food and agricultural workers, manufacturing workers, grocery store staff, public transit workers, teachers and child care personnel.

According to Betsy McDermott, project manager for the Premium Pay Program in the comptroller’s office, the program will have an online application portal next month, but the office also is exploring options to assist households with limited access to a computer.

The initial application period will run until Oct. 1, and the goal is to process requests within a 60-day window, she said.

Once most applications are received, McDermott added, the comptroller’s office also must make a determination whether grants will be reduced, on a proportional basis, in the event demand exceeds available funds.

That potential reduction, which was stipulated by the legislature, has labor advocates particularly concerned.

Up to 5% of the $30 million can be used for administrative costs, leaving at least $28.5 million for grants.

If an average grant of $500 were awarded — which would match the flat grant neighboring Massachusetts is providing essential work compensated ers — it would allow Connecticut to provide roughly 57,000 grants.

But the Bay State program, which has a $500 million budget, sent payments to 480,000 people in March and another 330,000 in May, according to the commonwealth’s Executive Office of Administration and Finance.

Massachusetts’ plan does cover both public- and private-sector workers, regardless of industry. It also mandates payments to everyone under a certain income threshold, without households having to apply or prove they could not work remotely.

Still, critics say Connecticut’s effort is clearly underbudgeted — and that’s not the only problem.

To make the dollars stretch, the legislature ignored a third category of essential workers, listed as “1C” by the Centers for Disease Control.

These include a wide range of jobs, but labor advocates pointed to a couple in this category that were hard to understand.

Soup kitchens, food pantries and other community meal programs fall into this category.

Lisa Hagemen, executive director of the Community Kitchen of Torrington, caught COVID in the December of 2021 as she and a small paid staff served most meals to clients. Volunteerism shrank considerably during the pandemic.

The kitchen also serves as a warming shelter, and Hagemen said the homeless also were allowed in during the colder days to stay warm until a nearby shelter opened.

“So many people were out of work, our numbers were going sky-high,” Hagemen said, adding her staff served about 250 lunches per day that winter, almost double the normal level.

“We were open throughout the pandemic. We didn’t close for a day,” said Steve Werlin, executive director of the Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen in New Haven.

Werlin’s kitchen also served as a warming shelter for the homeless and offered needy clients access to medical services and behavioral health counseling.

“It’s fairly shocking to hear those working with the hardest-hit population and doing it on the frontlines are not being compensated,” he added. “That is disappointing.”