Virginia Beach fast tracks vote to provide bonuses to essential employees who worked through the pandemic

Virginia Beach — Bonuses for employees who have kept the city functioning during the pandemic — including waste management workers who walked off the job last week in protest — are on the way.

The Virginia Beach City Council will consider a proposal Tuesday to provide up to $1,500 in extra pay to more than 3,450 employees who were not eligible for hazard pay under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds. And Mayor Bobby Dyer expects it to pass.

The council voted last week to provide up to $2,000 in hazard pay to first responders and Health and Human Services workers with funds the city received from the CARES Act.

Thousands of other employees who have been working through the pandemic were not eligible for CARES Act funding, according to the city, so the city manager asked the council to use money saved from a hiring freeze.

The council vote for the employees not eligible for CARES Act money was originally planned for Sept. 1, but was moved up after waste management workers refused to collect trash last week in protest of not receiving the extra pay.

Waste management workers told upper management Wednesday that they were upset that the council did not give them hazard pay. The city manager’s office said at the time the city intended to show its appreciation for all workers.

Dyer said it takes all departments to run the city and he wants workers to know everyone is appreciated. Dyer and Vice Mayor Jim Wood both support the COVID-19 payments for workers.

“This is fairness; it is equity,” Dyer said. “We truly value all employees.”

Full-time workers who have been employed with the city since March and earn less than $100,000 will be eligible for the one-time payments.

When the pandemic began, the city designated certain employees as emergency responders due to the critical nature of the work that they perform. This designation made them ineligible for paid leave for childcare due to closures of daycare or schools “as a result of the pandemic in accordance with the Families First Coronavirus Response Act,” the city said. Emergency responders work in many departments, including Emergency Management, Emergency Communications and Citizen Services, Public Utilities, Public Works, Parks and Recreation and Information Technology.

Under an original proposal put forward last week by the manager, those workers would have received $1,000. All other full-time workers would get $250.

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The plan now on the table calls for $1,500 and $250.

City Manager Patrick Duhaney said the extra pay would cost the city more than $2 million.

Councilwoman Sabrina Wooten said the council will work together to address the concerns of the waste management staffers and she supports the extra pay.

“Virginia Beach staff members are the lifeblood of the City of Virginia Beach,” Wooten wrote in a statement. “It is inconceivable to realize what we could not accomplish without their support, dedication, sacrifice and hard work.”

Councilman Aaron Rouse said he will also support the extra pay for employees.

“In our city, I believe there should be no difference in respect and appreciation for the roles that make the city run, from the janitors to the council members,” Rouse wrote on Facebook. “I was raised to believe and value the dignity of all members in our society.”

Alissa Skelton, 757-995-9043, alissa.skelton@pilotonline.com.