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Sen. Chris Pearson, P-Chittenden, leaves the Senate chamber after the body voted unanimously to allow members to vote remotely at the Statehouse in Montpelier on April 8, 2020. Pearson is part of a group considering boosting pay for frontline workers. Photo by Glenn Russell/VTDigger

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Vermont lawmakers are moving forward with a proposal that would give additional pay to workers on the front lines of the Covid-19 crisis.



Under a plan discussed by state senators Friday afternoon, workers making $20 per hour or less in industries that have been deemed “essential” by the governor during Vermont’s state of emergency could receive monthly grant payments.



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Those eligible for the benefit include grocery store workers, pharmacy workers, janitors, trash collectors, child care providers, and assisted living and nursing home caregivers — employees in essential jobs who have frequent contact with members of the public.



A special legislative working group that has drafted the proposal has yet to determine how much workers would receive each month, but is looking at providing payments in April, May, June and July.



Lawmakers began looking to offer additional pay to Covid-19 workers after realizing that with newly available federal benefits as well as state unemployment insurance, some workers could make more money while unemployed than they would on the job.



Combined federal and state benefits during Covid-19 could amount to more than $1,100 per week — greater than what some may now be making at work .



“It does create this really upside down incentive and that’s part of what we’re going after,” Sen. Chris Pearson, P/D-Chittenden, a member of the working group crafting the proposal, said Friday.



“And part of it is the recognition that if the folks stocking grocery shelves and helping us check out and caring for people in nursing homes, et cetera— if they all stopped working we’d be in deep, deep trouble.”



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Lawmakers are leaning toward asking a private payroll service to administer the grant payments instead of the Department of Labor, which has been roiled by tens of thousands of calls and requests related to unemployment insurance.



Employers would have to opt in to participate in the grant program, and pass the funds along to their qualified employees.



Sen. Jim McNeil, R-Rutland, who has also worked on the proposal, called it a “win-win” for workers and their employers.



“This benefit is not only for the employees with an increase of pay,” McNeil told the Senate Appropriations Committee Friday. “But it’s also a benefit for the employer to keep their employees working.”



Gov. Phil Scott’s administration has already acted to raise pay for some working at the front of the Covid-19 crisis.



The state is spending close to $8 million to increase pay for nearly 3,000 workers in Vermont’s specialized service agencies and designated agencies for three months. Those receiving the additional pay include mental health workers, substance abuse treatment providers, and providers who serve people with disabilities.



If lawmakers move forward with their plan, Mike Smith, the secretary of the Agency of Human Services, said he wants to make sure the state doesn’t duplicate spending on workers who are already seeing raises.



“We don’t want to pay these populations twice,” Smith said in an interview Friday. “And if they do want to expand the system on their part, there is already a mechanism in place to take care of not all, but many of the constituencies that they were looking at.”



Smith added that ideally, it should be the private sector and not the state that raises wages for other front line employees like retail and grocery store workers.



“They should be rewarding those people on their own. Like a Walmart, or a Hannaford, or a Price Chopper — they should actually be doing that on their own,” he said.



Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, D/P-Chittenden, said that legislators have to operate under the assumption that front-line employees like grocery workers aren’t going to see additional pay unless the state steps in.



“It’ll be tempting for people to say ‘They’re the ones we shouldn’t do because we should let their employers take care of them,’” Ashe said during the meeting of the appropriations panel. “But if we have no reason to believe the employers will take care of them, that’s where we’re needed.”



Lawmakers believe the state will likely be able to cover the pay increases by harnessing some of the $2 billion relief package Vermont will soon receive from the federal government.



Senators expressed desire to move forward with the measure quickly, so that essential workers can see swift pay increases.



“I’m getting worried, I think we all are, that people will start getting back to work before they get a penny of acknowledgement,” Ashe said.



But the measure won’t reach the governor’s desk until the end of next week, at the earliest.



The House is still unable to vote remotely and House Speaker Mitzi Johnson said that the chamber won’t approve virtual voting until late next week.





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