Hazardous duty pay: Anybody else getting it

Lots of replies with various experiences expressed.
Someone made an issue about my being paid a premium for reporting to the office. As always, you have to walk in another's shoes before making any implied criticism.
I go into the office four days most weeks and I do so partly because I as the supervisor feel that I should not impose greater risks upon my three direct reports than I expose myself to and have allowed them more working from home days than I enjoy.
A day at the office involves lots of face to face interaction with various others of unknown health status. There are numerous functions that cannot be done online from home.
We have just today done saturation testing of our workforce, but it could not be compelled. I will say that having the pipe cleaner shoved way up each nostril was not pleasant, but there were those who avoided the test simply because they said they could not afford the two weeks off work should they test positive.
That's why we have sick leave as well as forty hours of COVID leave tacked on for free?
Doesn't matter if you're one of those with no available leave hours to begin with since you burn them as soon as you get them.
 
I was doing field service for a few weeks, no extra hazardous duty pay.

Now back working from home 5 days a week. Healthcare is always busy.
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
Wife gets absolutely nothing at hospital to be exposed 3 times over to Covid positive people unknown at time. She isn't busy at work given focus of COVID.

However she takes full advantage of healthcare worker freebies:
* free summer camp $150 at dance
* Tiguan ended up with $80 oil change free and car cleaned
-* Bunch of coffee daily Starbucks and other food places her work ID gets it
* some large discount on full price stuff like 40-50% of retail brands


I refuse to use any of these discounts.
If we are so great, why was it not there before? At some point it time it will stop. Are we no longer great at this time?

Was on the way home from work today and stopped at the corner store to get me a soda, guy said "you a nurse" and I said yup, he said you get your drink free, I said no thanks, give it to the guy behind me (a windshield replacement guy).
 
Originally Posted by blupupher
If we are so great, why was it not there before? At some point it time it will stop. Are we no longer great at this time?


Umm perhaps because there was no pandemic before..? Just throwing a wild guess out there. Everybody's job is important in some way, shape or form. The meat processors weren't heralded until we're short of meat. Structural engineers aren't great until the building you're in doesn't fall on you when an earthquake/natural disaster strikes. Everybody can't get a pat on the back all at the same time.

I'd be appreciative of the support and recognition, but that's just me.
 
Originally Posted by blupupher
Originally Posted by madRiver
Wife gets absolutely nothing at hospital to be exposed 3 times over to Covid positive people unknown at time. She isn't busy at work given focus of COVID.

However she takes full advantage of healthcare worker freebies:
* free summer camp $150 at dance
* Tiguan ended up with $80 oil change free and car cleaned
-* Bunch of coffee daily Starbucks and other food places her work ID gets it
* some large discount on full price stuff like 40-50% of retail brands


I refuse to use any of these discounts.
If we are so great, why was it not there before? At some point it time it will stop. Are we no longer great at this time?

Was on the way home from work today and stopped at the corner store to get me a soda, guy said "you a nurse" and I said yup, he said you get your drink free, I said no thanks, give it to the guy behind me (a windshield replacement guy).

Healthcare workers get treated worse than trash. Id have no problem taking advantage of not, regardless of the reason.
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
Wife gets absolutely nothing at hospital to be exposed 3 times over to Covid positive people unknown at time. She isn't busy at work given focus of COVID.

However she takes full advantage of healthcare worker freebies:
* free summer camp $150 at dance
* Tiguan ended up with $80 oil change free and car cleaned
-* Bunch of coffee daily Starbucks and other food places her work ID gets it
* some large discount on full price stuff like 40-50% of retail brands

Is your wife a doctor ?
 
No hazard pay here. I work part time at a long term care facility in transportation. Right now, I switch between transporting one person to dialysis and screening workers at the front entrance. There are three workers who tested positive and myself? I'm not worrying about it.
 
Originally Posted by hatt
Originally Posted by wag123
Some of our health care workers in rural areas are only making a fraction of what they would normally make as well as working significantly more hours. How disgusting is that! If anyone deserves to get hazardous duty pay it is them.

Pay cuts and layoffs of health care workers big time around here. Wife knows APRNs that got 33% pay cut. MDs with 50%. Hundreds of furloughs. Luckily she hasn't been impacted so far.


Wife's best friend is a hospital nurse...her hours have been slashed, she said the place is nearly empty. Don't think there have been layoffs, but hours are down across the board.
 
That s because all elective and outpatient surgeries have been cancelled. They only want sick patients in the hospitals.

50-60% of their revenue comes from surgeries.
 
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
That s because all elective and outpatient surgeries have been cancelled. They only want sick patients in the hospitals.

50-60% of their revenue comes from surgeries.


Yeah..."elective" things like cancer treatment, cardiac procedures, and the like.
 
Originally Posted by madRiver
Wife gets absolutely nothing at hospital to be exposed 3 times over to Covid positive people unknown at time. She isn't busy at work given focus of COVID.

However she takes full advantage of healthcare worker freebies:
* free summer camp $150 at dance
* Tiguan ended up with $80 oil change free and car cleaned
-* Bunch of coffee daily Starbucks and other food places her work ID gets it
* some large discount on full price stuff like 40-50% of retail brands




Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
That s because all elective and outpatient surgeries have been cancelled. They only want sick patients in the hospitals.

50-60% of their revenue comes from surgeries.


Yeah..."elective" things like cancer treatment, cardiac procedures, and the like.


Same type of thing here in CO. Hospital revenue down more like 70%, no haz pay for those on the medical side... (I'm not "patient facing" in my job).
The message from Admin is "It's part of the job". Maybe a surprise of some sort down the road.
In total, as of last week just over 190 of staff were positives out for isolation at some point in this viral fight and about 80% or more had returned to work. Considering 190 out for 16 days or so each within the past 6-7 weeks, that's a huge hit for FTE's taken out of the workforce.

*Oncology staff and services/treatment are ongoing here as well as emergent related services or surgery's. I'd guess you have to know or find out case by case what or how others are handling and defining those services. "Elective" .
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted by bachman
Originally Posted by madRiver
Wife gets absolutely nothing at hospital to be exposed 3 times over to Covid positive people unknown at time. She isn't busy at work given focus of COVID.

However she takes full advantage of healthcare worker freebies:
* free summer camp $150 at dance
* Tiguan ended up with $80 oil change free and car cleaned
-* Bunch of coffee daily Starbucks and other food places her work ID gets it
* some large discount on full price stuff like 40-50% of retail brands




Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
That s because all elective and outpatient surgeries have been cancelled. They only want sick patients in the hospitals.

50-60% of their revenue comes from surgeries.


Yeah..."elective" things like cancer treatment, cardiac procedures, and the like.


Same type of thing here in CO. Hospital revenue down more like 70%, no haz pay for those on the medical side... (I'm not "patient facing" in my job).
The message from Admin is "It's part of the job". Maybe a surprise of some sort down the road.
In total, as of last week just over 190 of staff were positives out for isolation at some point in this viral fight and about 80% or more had returned to work. Considering 190 out for 16 days or so each within the past 6-7 weeks, that's a huge hit for FTE's taken out of the workforce.

*Oncology staff and services/treatment are ongoing here as well as emergent related services or surgery's. I'd guess you have to know or find out case by case what or how others are handling and defining those services. "Elective" .

Yeh, my main potential concern has been loss of pay due to being isolated. I'd likely find a way to weasel into something I could work with, but still a concern.
 
Wife and I look at medical workers as doing their jobs.
They went into medicine, ummm, that means working with sick people.
Its a virus. Ill agree, an easy spreading virus but its part of the job.
 
Originally Posted by alarmguy
Wife and I look at medical workers as doing their jobs.
They went into medicine, ummm, that means working with sick people.
Its a virus. Ill agree, an easy spreading virus but its part of the job.

Military should not get combat pay, either.
 
Originally Posted by alarmguy
Wife and I look at medical workers as doing their jobs.
They went into medicine, ummm, that means working with sick people.
Its a virus. Ill agree, an easy spreading virus but its part of the job.

As a nurse working in the ER dealing with this on a regular basis, I feel the same way.

But, some areas do not have the PPE required to keep staff safe from the virus, and that is not "part of the job".

When ebola came to the US, there was no hazard pay for that, but there was also proper PPE available for those that did have to take care of those patients.
Even for a "normal" flu season PPE has always been available, so the risk was mitigated.

But lack of PPE is not a reason for hazard pay IMO, it is a reason for a lawsuit (and I am one that really does not believe in lawsuits).

Now for those "healthcare workers" that do not do patient care, then definitely no hazard pay or lawsuit. You sitting in your office, socially distanced from others, much less never being around a suspected or actual infected patient should be happy to have a job and being paid.
 
Originally Posted by blupupher
Originally Posted by alarmguy
Wife and I look at medical workers as doing their jobs.
They went into medicine, ummm, that means working with sick people.
Its a virus. Ill agree, an easy spreading virus but its part of the job.

As a nurse working in the ER dealing with this on a regular basis, I feel the same way.

But, some areas do not have the PPE required to keep staff safe from the virus, and that is not "part of the job".

When ebola came to the US, there was no hazard pay for that, but there was also proper PPE available for those that did have to take care of those patients.
Even for a "normal" flu season PPE has always been available, so the risk was mitigated.

But lack of PPE is not a reason for hazard pay IMO, it is a reason for a lawsuit (and I am one that really does not believe in lawsuits).

Now for those "healthcare workers" that do not do patient care, then definitely no hazard pay or lawsuit. You sitting in your office, socially distanced from others, much less never being around a suspected or actual infected patient should be happy to have a job and being paid.

I'm a fan of taking anything legally offered to me. I sense no gain of any sort in not.
 
We were offered up to $500 (after tax) as salary employees, if required to be in the plant supporting business operations vs. salary folks who strictly were WFH in this current CV-19 situation.
 
Originally Posted by Jarlaxle
Originally Posted by Mr Nice
That s because all elective and outpatient surgeries have been cancelled. They only want sick patients in the hospitals.

50-60% of their revenue comes from surgeries.


Yeah..."elective" things like cancer treatment, cardiac procedures, and the like.


I meant big dollar elective surgery like orthopedic knee and hip replacements.
 
Originally Posted by Ws6
Originally Posted by alarmguy
Wife and I look at medical workers as doing their jobs.
They went into medicine, ummm, that means working with sick people.
Its a virus. Ill agree, an easy spreading virus but its part of the job.

Military should not get combat pay, either.


Big difference between a combat Army MOS and a non combat MOS where you are indoors, in nice A/C , sitting at a computer and away from bullets wizzing by you like grunts have to deal with.
 
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