The COVID-19 pandemic thrust millions of essential workers onto the frontlines, risking their health and safety to keep our society functioning From grocery store clerks to healthcare providers, these everyday heroes continue showing up day after day, despite the ongoing dangers. Many have called for hazard pay or “hero pay” to compensate these workers for their vital service and increased risk. The idea has gained serious momentum in recent months, working its way into major stimulus relief proposals This article will examine the legislative journey of including hazard pay in a federal stimulus bill, the benefits it would provide, and what essential workers can expect next.
The Push for Hazard Pay in Stimulus Bills
In early 2020, the coronavirus pandemic caused economic turmoil, shuttering businesses and forcing layoffs nationwide. As Congress scrambled to pass relief legislation, the idea emerged to provide hazard pay for frontline essential workers in the next stimulus package. Advocates argued these workers deserved extra compensation for the great risks they took to provide vital services in dangerous conditions.
The first major stimulus bill, the CARES Act, passed in March 2020 lacking any hazard pay provisions. However, the $2 trillion package did lay the groundwork by acknowledging that certain workers had greater COVID-19 exposure. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) used this legislation to publish guidance for protecting high-risk workers.
The conversation around hazard pay continued gaining traction over the following months. In May 2020, Senate Democrats unveiled the Heroes Fund proposal to provide $25,000 in hazard pay for essential workers. While Senate Republicans blocked this specific plan, it demonstrated growing bipartisan interest in the idea.
By early 2021, with President Biden in office and Democrats controlling both chambers, the push for hazard pay gained real momentum. The provision found its way into the new administration’s American Rescue Plan, although it didn’t survive Senate deliberations Despite leaving the final bill, this marked a huge step forward for the hazard pay movement
The Heroes Act and Essential Worker Hazard Pay
In May 2020, House Democrats passed the sweeping $3 trillion HEROES Act, the first major stimulus proposal to include hazard pay provisions The bill contained $200 billion for essential worker hazard pay, including
- $10,000 for lower-income healthcare workers and first responders
- $5,000 for workers earning over $200,000 per year
The act also increased OSHA enforcement to better protect high-risk workers from COVID-19 exposure. Additionally, it extended other CARES Act worker protections regarding unemployment insurance and sick leave.
To qualify for the $10,000 hazard pay bonus, an essential worker had to earn less than $200,000 annually and perform in-person services during the pandemic. Eligible occupations included:
- Healthcare professionals
- First responders
- Food service and agricultural workers
- Janitors and sanitation staff
- Grocery clerks
- Truck drivers
- Postal workers
Despite the bill’s ambitions, the Republican-controlled Senate immediately declared the HEROES Act “dead on arrival.” Critics argued the large price tag was unrealistic and objected to many provisions unrelated to COVID-19. However, the act’s hazard pay component gained generally positive feedback. It established essential worker pay as a priority issue deserving real consideration.
The American Rescue Plan Continues the Push
After President Biden’s election, Democrats quickly got to work on new stimulus relief legislation. The resulting $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan continued the drive for essential worker hazard pay started in the HEROES Act.
Early drafts provided $13 per hour hazard pay to workers earning under $200,000 annually, capped at $10,000. Eligible occupations aligned closely with the HEROES Act, including grocery workers, janitors, childcare providers, and healthcare staff.
Despite broad support amongst Democrats, the hazard pay provision faced scrutiny in the evenly split Senate. Opponents argued it was inefficient to administer and cautioned about the sizeable price tag.
Following tense negotiations, Senate Democrats removed the hazard pay component to pass the overall bill. While a disappointing setback, the provision made unprecedented progress, garnering positive reviews from both sides of the aisle. Its inclusion in the House version and early Senate drafts demonstrated meaningful momentum.
Why Hazard Pay Matters for Essential Workers
While the actual legislation stalled, including hazard pay in major stimulus bills highlighted its importance. This provision would provide crucial financial support and recognition to the everyday heroes who risked their lives through the pandemic. Here are some of the key reasons this essential worker pay matters:
Compensating increased health risks: From disease exposure to mental tolls, essential workers experienced dramatically heightened health risks. Fair compensation acknowledges these burdens.
Support for strained households: Extra pay would ease financial strains for households facing lost spousal income, childcare costs, and other challenges.
Acknowledgement of their service: After years of low wages and minimal benefits, hazard pay recognizes essential workers as indispensable contributors to society.
Economic stimulus effects: Providing higher pay boosts consumer spending power, benefiting the overall economy.
Fairness: While many Americans worked safely from home, essential workers bore the brunt of community transmission risks in their workplaces.
Despite not yet becoming law, the journey of hazard pay through Congress brought this issue to the national foreground. The door remains open to incorporate some form of essential worker pay into a future relief package or new legislation. With bipartisan support and ample justification, the case for compensating America’s everyday heroes remains as strong as ever.
What’s Next for Essential Worker Hazard Pay?
While early 2021 presented the most serious push yet for federal hazard pay legislation, the future remains uncertain. Several possible paths lie ahead:
State-level action – In lieu of federal policies, states like Vermont, Minnesota, and California implemented temporary essential pay programs. More states may follow suit. However, state-level efforts risk inconsistent coverage.
Local programs – Some cities and counties provided hazard pay for certain public employees like transit workers and firefighters during the pandemic. These localized initiatives could expand.
New federal legislation – Congress could resuscitate hazard pay in a future stimulus bill or as standalone legislation. However, the prospects in a divided Congress are unclear.
Business-provided bonuses – Many large companies like Amazon, Walmart, and Kroger gave employees temporary “hero pay” bonuses during pandemic peaks. More businesses could implement similar voluntary programs.
For now, the future of meaningful broad-based federal hazard pay remains uncertain. Much depends on the pandemic’s course, economic conditions, political landscapes, and grassroots advocacy. One thing is clear – after everything essential workers have done, they deserve compensation for their sacrifices. The journey for hazard pay stimulus legislation continues.
Part 2: The state of hazard pay
In Congress, Democratic and Republican proposals for federal hazard pay started ambitious, but languished in the Republican-controlled Senate, with little prospect of being passed into law.
In April, Democrats in Congress proposed hazard pay legislation to provide generous compensation to essential workers across the public and private sectors. This $200 billion “Heroes Fund” was part of the original $3 trillion “HEROES Act” passed by the House on May 15. Through the fund, eligible workers would receive up to $25,000 in “pandemic premium pay” through the federal government—equivalent to an extra $13 per hour—from the start of the public health emergency until the end of the year. The eligibility requirements of the fund were expansive, including even highly paid essential workers such as doctors. Essential workers earning up to $200,000 a year (or approximately $100 per hour) would be eligible for the full amount of up to $25,000, while workers earning over $200,000 would be eligible for a smaller amount of $5,000.
In May, Senator Mitt Romney (R-Utah) proposed a narrower “Patriot Pay” proposal for a temporary bonus of up to $12 per hour. Compared to the Democrats’ proposal, Sen. Romney’s proposal included a lower income cap (annual incomes up to $50,000 could receive the full amount and incomes up to $90,000 would receive a smaller amount), a shorter timeline (May 1 through July 31), and only some of the money (three-quarters) coming from the government and the rest from employers. Sen. Romney explained that the legislation would address the risks that frontline essential workers face as well as the “anomaly” of some essential workers earning less money than unemployed workers receiving enhanced unemployment benefits.
Many Republicans in Congress expressed little interest in either hazard pay proposal, and neither has been passed into law. After House Democrats passed their $3 trillion HEROES Act, Senate Republicans introduced a smaller, $1 trillion HEALS Act in July. That bill did not include any hazard pay for essential workers. It also excluded new state and local aid, which would shore up struggling state and local government budgets with the funds necessary to keep public sector frontline essential workers employed. The result was dimmed prospects for any federal hazard pay. On September 28, House Democrats introduced an updated, leaner version of the HEROES Act which did not include the original Heroes Fund for hazard pay for essential workers.
The pandemic recession makes hazard pay more urgent
The COVID-19 recession has pummeled workers with the lowest wages, especially Black and Latino or Hispanic workers. Low-income workers have suffered the worst job losses in the pandemic. More than half (51%) of households earning under $50,000 have experienced employment loss during the pandemic. These job losses have further strained already limited household finances and increased food insecurity. In a recent survey, nearly half of low-wage workers reported having trouble paying bills and about a third had trouble paying their rent or mortgage.
This is the case for Yvette Beatty, a 60-year-old home health aide in Philadelphia, who is Black. Two of her children lost their jobs in the pandemic recession. One moved back in with her. Now, Beatty is the sole provider for her family of seven. Even though she is “scared as heck” working during the pandemic and fears bringing the virus back home to her family, she feels she has no choice but to keep working. But she is barely surviving on just $12.75 an hour.
“It’s very hard,” Beatty told us. “Thank God for noodles. We are eating just what we can right now.” Like a disproportionate share of low-income workers, Beatty has several underlying health conditions that put her at greater risk from COVID-19. Due to her financial struggles, her health has suffered during the pandemic. She said she sometimes skips a day of her medicine to stretch it further, and can’t afford to eat the healthy foods recommended for her diet. “I know I am supposed to eat certain things, but I would rather give to my family than to myself,” she said.
Beatty wishes the federal government would come to the aid of frontline workers like herself: “You’re telling me, before you pushed out trillions of dollars, you couldn’t push out money for us? You couldn’t push it out for these people who are on trash trucks, mopping floors, picking up biowaste, who are home health aides? Even for some of the nurses and doctors?…It’s time to wake up and recognize us.”
Current Stimulus Programs: $1,000 Hazard Pay | $2k Rental Assistance
Is hazard pay included in the next stimulus package?
As negotiations for the next stimulus package continue in Washington, there’s one subject that doesn’t appear to be included in talks: Hazard pay. What Is Hazard Pay? Hazard pay is additional compensation for workers who perform hazardous tasks or work involving physical hardship, according to Department of Labor guidelines.
What is hazard pay and how does it work?
The hazard pay would be set aside in a “Heroes Fund” and provide an additional $13 per hour for essential frontline workers up to a maximum premium pay of $25,000 for workers earning less than $200,000 and a maximum of $5,000 for workers earning more than that through the end of the year. The hazard pay would be retroactive to Jan. 27, 2020.
Who gets hazard pay if the Heroes Act becomes law?
Also, each state government will have the final say on who gets approved for hazard pay if The Heroes Act does become law. Here are some of the most common essential workers. childcare workers, cafeteria workers and others who must necessarily support the ability of other essential workers to be able to work.
Will the Senate include hazard pay in stimulus package?
But it appears the Senate won’t include hazard pay on its wishlist for the next stimulus package. The HEALS Act, proposed by the Senate last week, did not include any hazard pay provisions. Regardless, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is still rallying for hazard pay on the Senate floor.