Hochadel backs pay for essential workers

Press Release

State Sen. Jan Hochadel (D-Meriden) joined a bipartisan vote in the state Senate on April 12 to approve an arbitrated award granting 35,500 state employees an average of $25 a week for the year they spent working closely with others at a time when there was no COVID-19 vaccine and the COVID-19 infection process was largely a mystery.

Senate Resolution 26 passed on a bipartisan voted of 32-3.

“These essential workers risked their lives and the lives of their families in order to save others,” said Hochadel, who represents the communities of Cheshire, Meriden, Middlefield and Middletown.

“If we can do something to say thank you for their service, we should. They continued to persevere through a period of time without knowing what the outcome would be and they deserve this recognition.”

The pandemic payments were ordered by a neutral third-party arbitrator who noted that in March 2020, when Governor Lamont declared an emergency and urged people in Connecticut to “stay safe and stay home,” that did not apply to nearly 36,000 essential state employees who continued to report to their workplaces from March 20, 2020, through March 27, 2021.

These employees enforced law and order, cared for the sick, the disabled, responded to emergencies and maintained the equipment and infrastructure that allowed state services to continue during a year in which there were 7,832 COVID deaths and 29,916 COVID hospitalizations.

The average award per-person is $1,333 for the year –about 62 cents an hourthough payments vary widely by position.

Other New England states providing similar pandemic pay stipends to their state employees include New Hampshire ($2,400 to $6,300 per-person), Massachusetts ($1,500 to $2,000 lump-sum payments per-person), Maine (hourly pay increases which exceed the Connecticut arbitration award) and Vermont (premium pay for corrections officers only).

In an April 22 social media post, the Cheshire Fire Department stated that at approximately 5 a.m. that morning, the CFD responded to Waterbury Road near Marion Road for a motor vehicle accident involving two cars. The department said “Extrication of one occupant was required,” adding that lithium-ion battery-powered tools were utilized “to remove the door of the vehicle and free the driver.” Cheshire Fire Department, Facebook

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