The Denver city Council on Monday accredited pulling $5 million out of the metropolis's wet day fund to pay $four hundred bonuses to all the more than 10,700 city personnel who obtained vaccinated against COVID-19 by the Sept. 30 closing date set with the aid of Mayor Michael Hancock's previous this year.
an extra 643 employees who have been granted scientific or spiritual exemptions from the mayor's vaccine mandate will also be eligible for the bonuses however they could be subject to more scrutiny and their funds will come later, per the ordinance.
The Hancock administration proposed the bonus software on Sept. 10, more than a month after the mayor announced a vaccine mandate covering not simply city employees however also individuals working in settings the city deemed excessive possibility, together with private and public colleges, nursing buildings, homeless shelters and hospitals.
In committee meetings held ahead of Monday's vote, metropolis Council participants wondered the purpose of the suggestion, noting the announcement was too near the deadline to inspire many more employees to get vaccinated in time. city staff has mentioned the bonuses as "consciousness payments" differentiating them from an incentive. The mandate become backed by means of the probability of self-discipline together with the potential of being fired.
Councilwoman Robin Kniech additionally raised concern about the bonuses going to people who had non secular exemptions, announcing in a committee assembly that the metropolis should best be anxious with profitable individuals who took proactive steps to limit the transmission of COVID-19.
metropolis workforce up to date the measure to mandate that people with exemptions have to strictly abide further safeguard necessities to qualify for the bonuses. these requirements consist of taking a COVID-19 check and uploading effects to the city's human materials device each five days and wearing a masks while at work apart from whereas eating and ingesting or while working on my own in an enclosed office or car. Any exempted worker disciplined for breaking those guidelines by means of Dec. 10 may be disqualified from the bonus.
metropolis personnel who are vaccinated may still receive their bonus in late November. those with exemptions will wait until later in December to be certain they're complying with the suggestions.
The measure had opponents, together with Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer, who joined council individuals Jolon Clark and Chris Hinds in voting no Monday.
"I simply don't believe this a great use of our $5 million," she mentioned.
Councilman Paul Kashmann prior this month defended the bonuses as a method to keep the city aggressive in a labor market that has left Denver short-staffed in pretty much each department.
The bonuses are anticipated to charge $5.7 million in total with additional money coming from other buckets of city money, according to city chief fiscal officer Brendan Hanlon.
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