'I just felt like we were taking advantage of the taxpayers from the standpoint they were losing jobs and we were benefiting in a sense that those (city employees) working were actually making more money.'
Curry gave daily media briefings.
His email said that starting April 6, 2020, appointed employees would get a lesser amount of emergency comp time set at half an hour of comp for each hour worked. That rate applied to all hours worked, including beyond a 40-hour week. "Either way, this is effectively double pay for the hours worked and must be discontinued," Hughes wrote."This is sustainable and necessary for a short-term event, like hurricane emergency declarations of the past, but becomes harmful to the city for longer events."
But the city did not reach similar memorandums of understanding with four other unions: AFSCME, the Communication Workers of American, LIUNA and the Jacksonville Supervisors Association. Hughes responded by thanking the employee for the"offer of selflessness in a time like this"but said that based on legal guidance, the city needed to uniformly apply the policy.
In addition, FEMA uses its Public Assistance Program to identify costs incurred by local governments for emergency work tied to the pandemic. That is the program Jacksonville is seeking to use for reimbursements, but FEMA draws a line on what qualifies as emergency work by essential employees. FEMA would be able to reimburse the city for the cost of purchasing equipment that helps protect those firefighters from COVID-19 when they go on 911 calls.Other local government entities also awarded some form of extra compensation to their workers because of the pandemic.
The Jacksonville Transportation Authority paid nearly $8.7 million in hazard pay between May 2020 and June 2021 to 512 employees whose jobs brought them into contact with the general public. That hazard pay did not go to CEO Nat Ford or senior-level managers.providing fair compensation to workers for "perceived risks" that came with such jobs
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