Massachusetts first responders making bid for premium pay

Michael P. Norton

Demands on the state’s big pool of federal COVID aid have garnered headlines, but first responders are making a play for a big piece of American Rescue Plan Act funds awarded to cities and towns.

The Massachusetts Coalition of Police, which describes itself as the largest law enforcement union in the state, asked municipalities on Thursday to set aside a portion of the $3 billion in municipal aid under ARPA for police, firefighters, EMTs and others whose duties have put them in high-risk scenarios during the pandemic.

“There is no question the men and women working as first responders on the front lines during the pandemic have earned additional compensation for the great sacrifices they have made,” MassCOP said in a statement. “By authorizing these funds to be used for this purpose, the federal government has recognized these sacrifices appropriately. We ask that all municipalities statewide do the same by negotiating with all of its first responder labor organizations to provide this important benefit.”

The union said the American Rescue Plan Act allows the municipal funds to be used to provide premium pay for public safety employees who worked during the public health emergency, and estimated such pay can add up to $13 an hour to an eligible employee’s wages, “and in the aggregate cannot exceed $25,000 per eligible worker.” A union spokesman did not have an estimate of potential aggregate payouts under the request, estimating noting decisions are being made through bargaining on a community-by-community basis. They cited a study published by the Journal of the American Medical Association that determined the risk of first responders contracting COVID-19 on the job has been documented as twice as high as the risk for other essential workers, including those in the health care field.

The Baker administration this month announced plans to send $500 checks to about 500,000 low-income workers in March as part of the first premium pay program of its kind in the nation. The program was authorized in a $4 billion COVID-19 relief law that Gov. Charlie Baker signed in December, and the initial round of payments will total about $250 million, with about $250 million more expected to flow to other workers in future rounds.