Employees of Berrien County will soon be receiving their hazard pay for toughing it out and going to work during the worst of the COVID pandemic. Berrien County Commissioners last month approved giving $1,000 to all county employees who worked in the pandemic. The board previously authorized hazard pay for public safety employees. County Administrator Brian Dissette told them this week he’s close to having enough information to start issuing the checks.
“Over the past couple of weeks, staff have been working to refine the list of which staff would be included, how we would process the payment, and just working through all the people,” Dissette said. “It’s one process that just takes quite a bit of time to make sure that it’s done right.”
Dissette said they’re also looking at giving the hazard pay to part time employees who helped during the pandemic. The commission’s previous action was only for full time employees. There’s also a question of former employees who helped in the crisis, but have now moved on. The Berrien County Health Department alone had a lot of those. It will take a little time before the issue is all worked out.
