Nashville Park Custodians and Maintenance Workers Must Return Hazard Pay

Some essential workers who have been risking their health to work through the pandemic have received extra pay as compensation and others have been actively protesting to receive hazard pay bonuses.

More than 100 Metro Parks employees in Nashville, Tennessee, were among the fortunate workers to receive pandemic bonuses, until they were  forced to repay US$267,000 in hazard pay due to an error, WSMV-TV reports. Custodians, maintenance workers, and others who clean the city’s park—a total of 110 Metro Parks employees— are among the workers who must return hazard pay from 2020.

Jackie Jones, a Metro Parks spokesperson, told WSMV in an email statement that the situation is “unfortunate.” She added, “We are working with Metro human resources and finance to recover the overpayment of these federal funds in a manner that will lessen the impact to our employees.”

A spokesperson from the Metro finance department told WSMV that a Metro Parks employee submitted the incorrect number of hours that employees were earning hazard pay. Hence, the employees were overpaid when they were awarded the recent bonus. The 110 employees received a letter telling them they will have to repay between $2,000 and $3,364.

Jason Freeman, political director for the employees’ union, Service Employees International Union (SEIU), told WSMV that they have been told if employees cannot repay bonuses in full, the amount will be gradually taken out of their paychecks throughout 2021. Freeman said the workers are among the city’s lowest-paid employees. “These are very real problems for them at no fault of their own,” he said.