The Lamont administration has entered a formal agreement with state employee unions that says if workers arrange to get a COVID-19 vaccination outside their regular work hours, they receive an hour of compensatory time per shot.
That means thousands of state employees can get a maximum of two hours’ comp time if they get either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, which require two injections. If they receive the single-dose Johnson & Johnson shot, they’ll get one hour.
The agreement — signed March 3 and 4 by representatives of the governor’s budget office, called the Office of Policy and Management (OPM), and the State Employees Bargaining Agent Coalition (SEBAC) — grew out of talks initiated by SEBAC about the possibility of employees getting COVID-19 shots at their work sites, or the state granting “paid release time for employees to get vaccinated,” OPM spokesman Chris McClure said Friday.
“Realizing it would be logistically impossible for such arrangements on a state-wide basis, we agreed that there was a mutual interest in incentivizing employees to get vaccinated,” McClure said. “[I]t is in the best interests of the employees, the employer, and the State’s population at large for the maximum number of employees to be vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus,” the March agreement reads.
State employees who arrange to be vaccinated on their own time will receive what’s called “non-compensable compensatory time,” which means it “does not accrue, and cannot be paid out upon separation of employment,” McClure said. Those employees will need to use those one or two comp time hours within 12 months. If the employees choose to get vaccinated during their regular working hours, they can use their sick time.
The March agreement gives the Connecticut government workforce a benefit better than what’s available to many private-sector workers — something that’s often true, because of the clout of state employee unions. But in this case, during a generally acknowledged health emergency, the government workers aren’t alone in having such an advantage.
Many private-sector employees also are being offered similar incentives, for the sake of their health and that of the general population, says Chris DiPentima, president and CEO of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA).
“The private sector has been fairly rich” in the vaccination incentives it has offered workers, “and we’re applauding them,” DiPentima said in a phone interview Thursday. The greater the percentage of the population that’s vaccinated, he said, the sooner “our economy will return to normal.”
The list of big companies providing vaccination incentives include Raytheon Technologies, the corporate parent of major Connecticut employer Pratt & Whitney, DiPentima said.
“We have highly encouraged all of our employees to get vaccinated,” Raytheon CEO Greg Hayes said during a virtual Economic Club of Washington event on Wednesday. “In fact, there is a small financial reward that people get for getting vaccinated.”
Raytheon awards points to employees who get COVID-19 shots under a wellness program that also rewards things like getting an annual physical and flu shot, exercising or giving up smoking. Once they get enough points, they earn a $200 bonus.
Meanwhile, other companies are offering inducements from paid time off to straight cash bonuses. For example, California-based Aerojet Rocketdyne is offering $50 to employees who get vaccinated for COVID-19.
While DiPentima said there’s no solid information about the percentage of private-sector employees who are being offered incentives, about half the employers he’s spoken to have said they’re offering some kind of inducement.
Very few companies are making it mandatory for employees to get vaccinated; DiPentima said he and the CBIA support an optional “carrot” approach over the mandatory “stick.”
A blog item published Thursday on the CBIA’s website said that nearly all employers who responded to a national Willis Towers Watson survey — 96% — have spoken with their employees, or plan to, about the value of being vaccinated. It added: “Another 85% have or plan to develop policies and procedures to make it easier for employees to get vaccinated, the survey shows.”
The SEBAC-OPM agreement signed in March covers unions representing the vast majority of the state’s 49,200 full-time and 6,400 part-time employees. OPM’s McClure said there are no estimates yet of how many employees have used the incentive, or are expected to.
One state employee, lined up by SEBAC to comment to The Courant Friday, said the state incentive program is an example of how employees in both the private and public sectors should be encouraged to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
Sherwin LeGendre, a Department of Transportation Service Patrol driver, said, “Every day, I interact with the public who need assistance. I’ve had to approach unmasked families in their broken down vehicle and have even given CPR on the side of the road. Being vaccinated not only gives them the health and safety protection they deserve, but also gives my family peace of mind when I come home after hours of close contact.”
“We always encourage the state to model behavior that sets a good example for all employers,” said LeGendre, a member of CEUI SEIU Local 511. “Frankly, we pushed for two hours, not just one. It is important to encourage as many people as possible to be vaccinated, and for employers to play a positive role in that encouragement — especially employers like the state where many employees contact members of the public.”
Jon Lender is a reporter on The Courant’s investigative desk, with a focus on government and politics. Contact him at jlender@courant.com, 860-241-6524, or c/o The Hartford Courant, P.O. Box 569, Hartford, CT 06141-0569 and find him on Twitter @jonlender.
