Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that establishes hazard pay for "essential" workers whose jobs expose them to an elevated risk of being exposed to the COVID-19 coronavirus.

Highlights:

• Establishes the Essential Hazard Grant Program to provide grants to eligible employees who, during the program period, perform work in essential jobs that expose them to an elevated risk of being exposed to or contracting COVID-19 (Sec. 2).

• Specifies that grants will be paid to eligible employees in the following amounts (Sec. 4):

• For each monthly period during the program period in which a covered employer submits documentation showing that an eligible employee worked at least 108 hours, the eligible employee will receive a $1,000 grant; and

• For each monthly period during the program period in which a covered employer submits documentation showing that an eligible employee worked between 34 and 108 hours, the eligible employee will receive a $600 grant.

• Defines the “program period” as March 13, 2020, through May 15, 2020 (Sec. 1).

• Defines a “covered employer” as an entity that employs one or more individuals in Vermont in relation to its operation of one of the following (Sec. 1):

• A grocery store; 

• A pharmacy; 

• A retailer identified as essential in section 6, provided that the majority of the retail establishment is open to the general public for in-person sales rather than curbside pickup or delivery; 

• A wholesale distributor making deliveries to a retailer; 

• A trash collection or waste management service; 

• A janitorial service that provides cleaning services to another covered employer; 

• An assisted living residence; 

• A nursing home; 

• A residential care home; 

• A therapeutic community residence; 

• A health care facility or a physician’s office; 

• A child care facility that is providing child care services to essential service providers; 

• A vocational rehabilitation service provider; 

• A dentist’s office or facility; 

• A homeless shelter; 

• A home health agency; 

• A federally qualified health center, rural health clinic, or clinic for the uninsured; 

• A program licensed by the Department for Children and Families as a residential treatment program; 

• A funeral establishment or crematory; 

• Providers of necessities and services to vulnerable or disadvantaged populations.

• Defines “eligible employee” as an individual who (Sec. ):

• Is employed by a covered employer that has enrolled in the program; 

• Performs a job whose principal function is to:

• Provide in-person services to members of the public; 

• Clean or sanitize the premises of a covered employer in a location open to the public; 

• Stock products on the premises of a retailer in a location open to the public; 

• Perform activities that would reasonably result in a similarly elevated risk of being exposed to or contracting COVID-19; 

• Is unable to perform their job remotely or to telework;

• Actively performed the principal function of their job during the program period; 

• Except in cases of the employees of home health agencies and nursing homes, earns an hourly base wage of $25 or less; 

• Worked at least 34 hours for a covered employer during the relevant monthly period; and

• Is not eligible to receive monetary benefits for the performance of work in a job that exposes them to an elevated risk of being exposed to or contracting COVID-19 under any program authorized or implemented by the federal government.

• Specifies that an eligible employee who qualified for a grant is not permitted to receive more than 2 grants per monthly period for eligible work performed at different covered employers (Sec. 4).

• Specifies that the general assembly encourages covered employees to develop a plan to utilize their own resources or any available grant funding to provide increased compensation, hazard pay, a bonus, or some other monetary benefit, to employees whose jobs placed them at an increased risk of being exposed to or contracting COVID-19 during the program period but who are not eligible to receive these grants because they earn an hourly base wage in excess of $25 per hour (Sec. 12).

Full Bill Text