Health Care Workers in Rockland County Still Waiting for COVID Bonus Promised Years Ago

Rockland County Health Care Workers Still Await Promised COVID Bonus

Health care workers in the East Ramapo School District in Rockland County, New York, are still waiting for the $3,000 COVID bonus promised to them by the state years ago. They claim they have been trying to get the district to submit their paperwork correctly to the state for two years.

"We feel, like, we very much were disrespected by this," said Deirdre Davis, an occupational therapist assistant in the district.

The Health Care and Mental Hygiene Bonus Program was launched in 2022 by New York Governor Kathy Hochul to thank frontline workers during the pandemic, as well as recruit and retain health care workers across the state.

Eligible workers who made less than $125,000 annually and remained in their positions for at least six months were eligible to receive the bonus. Employers were required to submit paperwork on behalf of their employees, and the state distributed the money to the employer to then be given to the employee through their payroll.

The East Ramapo employees claim that the district made a technical error when submitting the forms for 46 qualified employees. The New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) sent a letter to the district last April informing them of the error and instructing them to resubmit. However, the district never resubmitted the paperwork, and the portal closed on July 31.

"Why are we being punished for somebody else's error?" Davis asked. "It's time for us to have the money."

The school district said in a statement that all eligible employees will be paid and apologized for the delays. However, the state said the district made multiple submissions that corrupted the data, and they are unable to process the claims until the error is fixed.

The state has paid $75,000 in bonus payments to the East Ramapo School District, but they did not specify which employees received those payments.

The next window to submit paperwork for the bonus will be in January 2025.

Frustration and Disrespect

Melissa Booker, an East Ramapo feeding therapist, described the emotional toll of the situation: "It makes you feel a lot less important when you go, 'Clerical error, sorry,' year after year."

Davis echoed this sentiment: "I personally don't mind where the error took place. I just think out of respect for the number of people that we are and how hard we worked during a very critical time during the pandemic, we deserve a better answer than there was a technical error."

The health care workers are frustrated and feel disrespected by the ongoing delays. They deserve a timely resolution to this issue and to receive the bonus they were promised for their hard work during the pandemic.