City Council approves COVID-19 hazard pay for some employees

by

The Birmingham City Council — at its regular meeting for Tuesday, March 7 — voted unanimously to provide a total of $500,000 in hazard pay for one month for city employees who are working at the frontlines of the municipal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including first responders.

The Council passed an ordinance to amend the city’s general fund budget for the fiscal year ending June 30 and move the half-million dollars from the budgets for the mayor’s office, human resources and some other areas.

There are 1,978 employees who will receive hazard pay, most of them fire or police personnel or public works employees, according to a news release from the Council.

There are also about 230 employees in Finance; Planning, Engineering and Permits; Municipal Court; and the Mayor’s Office who will qualify.

“As the city grapples with this public health crisis, our first responders are out on the frontlines protecting the public and responding to calls across the city,” Councilor Hunter Williams, chair of the Public Safety Committee, said in the news release. “We are committed to doing everything in our power as elected officials to provide them with the protection and resources they need to do their jobs and remain safe during this time.”

Mayor Randall Woodfin also told the Council that the city would temporarily change the work schedules for public works employees, including those doing garbage pickup, during the pandemic.

Those employees will now work four days a week, 10 hours per day. This gives them an extended, three-day break, Woodfin said.

The city will also temporarily suspend its recycling pickup, except for two routes that are part of pilot programs, the mayor told members.

The purpose of these changes is to further protect public works employees to COVID-19 and to help “alleviate their fear and anxiety” about possible exposure.

Woodfin said that the city had already taken steps to increase social distancing between public works employees while they work.

For example, the city is using “every available vehicle” to transport employees so that fewer employees must ride in each one," Woodfin said.