MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - Five Vermont state senators said Thursday that they were disturbed to learn that Walmart will not seek hazard pay grants for its Vermont employees who worked during the first three months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a Thursday press release, the senators, led by Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe, said the grants of $1,200 or $2,000 are paid for by the state, but employers must apply on behalf of their workers.
They said the workers put themselves at risk while most Americans stayed at home.
“Their decision, cruel under any circumstances, is especially unthinkable since the grants are intended to thank essential workers who stayed on the job in high risk positions in the earliest days of the COVID pandemic,” they said in the press release.
There are six Walmart stores in Vermont. The politicians said the company’s decision not to seek the grants means that “hundreds, if not more than a thousand” Walmart employees in Vermont won’t receive the grants.
Walmart has given employees special cash bonuses during the pandemic, and it believes the Vermont program’s funds are more appropriately used by “small and medium employers in the state who might be unable to pay a similar bonus,” said company spokesperson Jami Lamontagne.
Vermont is one of a handful of states to provide hazard pay to some workers during the pandemic.
A first round of hazard pay was available primarily for health care workers. The program was expanded to people who worked in other industries, including grocery stores, pharmacies and essential child care workers
A total of $22.5 million became available to industries including grocery stores and pharmacies.
The state began accepting applications last month.
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NUMBERS
On Thursday the Vermont Health Department reported 35 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19, bringing the statewide total since the pandemic began to just over 2,300 cases.
Currently there are four people with COVID-19 who are hospitalized in intensive care.
The number of deaths remains at 58. Vermont has not had a COVID-19 fatality since the end of July.
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