The Puerto Rican government gave out $100 million in government employee bonuses, while asking for $100 million in emergency funds from the Federal Government.
My give-a-damn meter is running at a fairly low level.
These were not bonuses, as in extra pay they wouldn’t have normally gotten. It’s hard to understand but this for mainlanders, but ‘Christmas Bonuses’ are legislated into wage and hour laws in Puerto Rico. Normally 6% of employees salaries - public or private - up to $10,000.00 is paid out in the first half of December. This is just like a Christmas Club savings account. Employers figure this legislated payroll expense into people’s salaries. I know this “benefit” costs me 30 cents an hour per employee, so I pay them that much less per hour throughout the year and then pay it in lump sum just before Christmas. It’s just a local idiosyncrasy already figured into budgets. That’s what the governor paid out. He had to.