The hazard pay in America has been canceled

  • Mar 29,2024
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When the coronavirus cases in the United States started to rise in March most of the governors declared a stay-at-home situation, but the retailers who had to continue working as normal, took an example of a practice used in the military decades ago. A lot of big companies, mainly shops, implemented a concept known as hazard pay, which rewards all workers doing a dangerous job - for instance, those who are regularly communicating with lots of people and can be infected with the virus. This practice had been popular during World War II “when soldiers, reporters, and entertainers received additional compensation for assignments in war-torn areas", it is also known as danger pay.

 

Among these companies ranks Whole Foods, owned by the world-famous online retailer Amazon, which raised the minimum hourly wage to $17 (from $15) and the overtime payment. Brands such as Kroger, Albertsons, Rite Aid, Stop & Shop and many others also had an increase of $2 per hour for their minimum payment for hourly workers. 

 

Now, when the coronavirus cases are spreading across the whole country, the risk for the employees remains high. Moreover lots of people working in supermarkets and other similar places are charged with the task to supervise whether customers are wearing masks and to warn them that it is compulsory if they want to enter the store. 

 

Against this background, the hazard pay, widely known as hero pay, had been ended by most of the ratilers. In May Kroger and Rite Aid stopped the payments, Amazon and Albertsons joined them in June and early in July Stop & Shop also froze the hikes. 

 

The important question is whether the employers should continue paying as the virus is still an issue and it is dangerous for all of the workers. The economist AnnElizabeth Konkel expressed the opinion that “Any job where a worker is interacting closely with the public or coworkers for an extended period of time elevates the possibility of contracting coronavirus," which supports the hazard pay as a good practice. 

 

Workers in the Kroger’s Food 4 Less in Los Angeles stopped receiving a hazard pay, estimated to additional $2 an hour, in May, but they are still concerned about their health. One of the clerks there, Susan Hernandez, explained that she had to deal with irresponsible clients every day, and even some of them have spit on the floor because they could not enter without a mask. According to her, hero pay is just “a small price to pay” for exposing their own lives to danger. Meanwhile a company’s representative explained that they have already spent over $830 million on rewards and bonuses. 

 

Amazon, on the other hand, said that the amount they paid to their employees is equal to $800 million only during the pandemic. In addition, from Stop & Shop said that this payment had to recognize the effort all the workers were making “during an unprecedented surge in demand and customer traffic” at the beginning of the pandemic, but now everything is going back to normality and the companies are returning to the sales they had at the beginning of the year.