Pa. offering $50 million in hazard pay grants

Tom Davidson
The Tribune-Review

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Pennsylvanians who are working in life-sustaining jobs during the coronavirus pandemic will be getting temporary pay increases, Gov. Tom Wolf announced Thursday.

“These people deserve to be paid for the risks they’re taking for all of us,” Wolf said.

The state will use $50 million of its federal pandemic stimulus funds to fund the program, which will provide $3-per-hour temporary pay increases for 10 weeks starting Aug. 16 and ending Oct. 24, Wolf said. The hazard pay is capped at $1,200 per employee.

The money must be applied for and distributed by employers, who will receive a grant that will provide the hazard pay. The state will provide a maximum of $3 million to qualifying business that provides a life-sustaining service.

Applications will be accepted started Thursday and end July 31.

To apply online, click here .

For details, call 717-787-6245 or email ra-dcedcbf@pa.gov.

Qualified businesses, health care nonprofits, public transportation agencies and certified economic development organizations can apply.

Eligible Pennsylvania-based industries include:

• health care and social assistance;

• ambulatory health care services;

• hospitals;

• nursing and residential care facilities;

• transit and ground passenger transportation;

• food manufacturing;

• grocery stores;

• security services for eligible industries listed above and commercial industries that were not closed as a result of the governor’s business closure order;

• janitorial services to buildings and dwellings.

The grants will provide hazard pay for up to 500 workers per location.

State Rep. Frank Dermody, D-Oakmont, the Democratic leader of the House lauded the move.

“An essential component of the spending plan we passed this spring was the use of available federal money to provide extra hazard pay for workers who are doing the most dangerous jobs,” Dermody said in a statement. “I urge all the employers who qualify for these grants to apply now.”

State Sen. Lindsey Williams, D-West View, agreed.

“Front line essential workers are the backbone of our economy, and they have been working in dangerous, sometimes deadly, conditions,” Williams said in a statement. “Many of these workers didn’t sign up for life-threatening work, so I’m pleased that the Hazard Pay Grant Program will assist employers in compensating them more fairly for the newfound dangers that they face.”

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