23 July 2020 Pennsylvania offers time sensitive opportunity for employee hazard pay grants for COVID-19 The Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development has announced a COVID-19 hazard pay grant program to help employers provide hazard pay to employees in life-sustaining occupations during the COVID-19 emergency. Hazard pay means additional wages paid to employees for performing hazardous duty or work involving physical hardship in connection with COVID-19. Applications will be accepted between July 16, 2020, and July 31, 2020, leaving employers a short time to take advantage of this program. Employers may submit applications for up to $1,200 per eligible full-time equivalent (FTE) employee. The hazard pay must be paid to the eligible employee over the 10-week period of August 16, 2020 through October 24, 2020 as a $3/hour hazard pay increase to their regular hourly pay rate. The program limits hazard-pay grants to 500 eligible full-time equivalent employees per location ($600,000 maximum grant per location). No employer may receive more than $3 million. Grant funds may be used for hazard pay for direct, full-time and part-time employees earning less than $20/hour, excluding fringe benefits and overtime. Funds may only be used to pay hazard pay for eligible employees for the 10-week period from August 16, 2020 through October 24, 2020. Businesses, healthcare non-profits, public transportation agencies, and certified economic development organizations may apply for funding for employers located and operating in Pennsylvania within one of the following eligible industries:
Applications must be submitted through the Electronic Single Application (ESA). For any questions, contact DCED Customer Service by calling +1 866 466 3972 or by email at ra-dcedcs@pa.gov. For more information, download the program guidelines here.
Document ID: 2020-1881 | |||||||||||
