The city of Atlanta’s essential frontline workers will get an additional $500 per month in “premium pay” through next June for working during the pandemic.
The City Council on Monday approved the additional payments, which come from the federal American Rescue Plan dollars allocated to the city.
Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms first instituted hazard pay for 5,400 employees who worked on the frontlines — including police and firefighters, solid waste workers and parks and recreation staff — in March 2020.
Those payments ceased at the end of June 2021, but Councilwoman Marci Collier Overstreet, who sponsored the legislation, said an extension was crucial.
“It was important to me to either reinstate hazard pay or compensate our mission critical employees for doing their jobs. These are often jobs that no one else will do, yet we couldn’t survive without them,” Overstreet said in a statement.
She said she worked with Bottoms’ office and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, which represents the city’s employees, on the new pay package, which will start immediately.
“This important legislation recognizes the continued hard work and support of our frontline employees and strives to improve the safety and services to our communities,” Bottoms said in a statement.
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