Posted on 11/01/2021 1:06:41 PM PDT by lightman
Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration’s COVID-19 vaccine incentive program launched on Monday has drawn mixed reactions across state government.
While the 72,000 commonwealth employees who work under the governor’s jurisdiction now eligible for up to five paid days off or a lump sum equivalent if they get vaccinated by Dec. 31, many government workers who work outside those agencies will not be given the same enticement to get their shots.
Neither the Senate chamber nor the House Republicans plan to offer anything similar at this time, spokesmen said. A spokeswoman for the Office of Attorney General said her agency doesn’t plan to offer one either.
“We are proud that nearly 90% of our employees are fully vaccinated and we have no plans to further expand the incentives we have already offered,” said Jacklyn Rhoads, a spokeswoman for the Attorney General’s office. “Our efforts to educate and empower our employees has worked and we are grateful to them for taking public health seriously.”
Employees who work for the Public Utility Commission, however, will be able to participate in this initiative, said spokesman Nils Hagen-Frederiksen.
The Wolf Administration on Monday announced the incentive program to its employees, unionized (regardless if a member) and non-represented/management ones alike.
It allows workers – even ones who got vaccinated and were already given paid 7.5 hours off as part of a previously announced incentive program – to take up to five paid days off between Dec. 20 and March 31. Employees will be paid a lump sum for the value of any of the five days they don’t take.
“Each day, millions of people rely on critical programs and services delivered by commonwealth employees,” said Administration Secretary Michael Newsome. “As one of the largest employers in Pennsylvania, we want to make sure our workers have the resources they need to be safe and healthy and be an example to other businesses to follow.”
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity made it clear she would not be offering this incentive to Treasury employees. She further called on Wolf to abandon the initiative.
Her office estimates it has the potential to cost taxpayers $100 million or more.
Wolf spokesman Beth Rementer said, “No new funding is necessary. Existing agency budgets will cover the cost.”
Garrity called it “a back-room deal completely outside of the state budget process and away from public scrutiny” and said it " is fiscally irresponsible.”
Citing her responsibility to manage taxpayer’s money “carefully and prudently,” the treasurer said, “I’m choosing to protect taxpayers rather than join the governor’s scheme.”
Spokespeople for the House Democrats and the auditor general’s office did not immediately respond to a request about whether they will follow the governor’s lead in offering a similar incentive to their employees.
Meanwhile, Rep. Bridget Kosierowski, D-Luzerne County, a registered nurse who serves on the governor’s COVID-19 vaccine task force, said she supports the governor’s initiative.
“The vaccine is the only way we’re going to stop this,” Kosierowski said. “At this point we need to do anything we can to continue to encourage those who are still hesitant about the vaccine to get it because now the rollout of the[vaccine for younger children] is happening. If we have hesitancy with adults and those adults have two or three kids who are eligible for the vaccine and they don’t get it, then we’re going down the rabbit hole again.”
Kosierowski said she certainly understands the treasurer’s concern about the cost associated with the governor’s incentive but noted other costs associated with the pandemic have been steep, too.
“There’s a lot of people who lost their work and businesses,” Kosierowski said. “You have to look at it that way and that’s how I am looking at it at this point so I’m very supportive of the governor’s plan.”
But House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff, R-Centre County, looks at that same set of facts differently.
“The same administration that, without notice, permanently ended thousands of Pennsylvania jobs and shuttered mom-and-pop stores across the commonwealth with its ill-advised and overbroad economic shutdown is now forcing many of those same individuals to finance this week-long paid vacation or cash payouts for the governor’s employees who received a COVID-19 vaccination,” Benninghoff said.
“Pennsylvania taxpayers deserve better and those who have suffered financial devastation as a result of this administration’s destructive unilateral action are due an explanation as to why they are struggling to make ends meet while funding additional vacation time for the governor’s employees,” he said.
Outside of the real dollars that this incentive program will cost taxpayers, Benninghoff spokesman Jason Gottesman said there is the lost manpower hours and the value that goes along with doing work on taxpayers’ behalf.
“The taxpayers lose out no matter what,” Gottesman said. “There are some people who are employees or contractors of the federal government and private sector people that are going to be losing their jobs if they don’t receive a vaccine. Here, the state is literally giving away taxpayer resources to employees under the governor’s jurisdiction that have received the vaccine. It really is something that is completely turned on its head.”
The approximate 2,200 employees at the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency recently were told they must be vaccinated since the agency has federal contracts and falls under President Joe Biden’s vaccination order. Employees at that agency were told they had until Dec. 8 to become fully vaccinated although as of Monday, the Biden Administration signaled it was going to offer federal contractors broad leeway in enforcing the mandate.
As of Friday, more than 71.6% of Pennsylvanians 18 age and older are fully vaccinated, with the state ranking fifth among all 50 states for total doses administered.
The bribes are going up. Take the bribe and you reach volunteer status and have no chance in a future lawsuit, not that I would put much face in the judicial system.
My health care plan currently offers a bribe of $50.
If they raise it by $999,950 I am in!
Nope.
Let’s see. On the one hand I can take the vax and maybe suffer from blood clots and die even though I know the vax will neither protect me from or stop me from spreading the China Virus and get paid for 5 days vacation.
Or
I can not get the vax and not worry for the rest of my life when the internal bomb I am carrying will explode.
Easy choice for me.
These incentives to get an experimental shot just get creepier and creepier......
I guess if you want to control a population you would start with government employees....and rid the Government of those who wouldn’t comply with orders.
Our commie governor offered a lottery of 1 million dollars. I am still holding out for 10 million. Nothing yet. :)
We are deep into Twilight Zone territory—they can’t decide whether they want to offer the cattle a tasty meal or a electric prod....
It would seem both are in play.
450K to illegals.
Is this a joke?
Heck, I can’t even take the time off I have now. I’m busier than a cat covering up poop in Biden’s diaper.
Yeah—welcome to the Twilight Zone!
I’m holding out for a Jeep TrackHawk.
You need the time off anyway when your blot clots swell up.
I’m a Pennsylvania Commonwealth employee and one co-worker and myself are the only State employees that don’t have the jab. That 5 days of is tempting...but, I think the better option would be to file a union grievance. 😂😂🤣😂 like that will do any good.
Its the same everywhere. Us holdouts are a tiny fraction. The others who believe their lord n saviour is in a needle, a pill or free stuff is just overwhelming. My own children took it. The dems destroyed every vestige of freedom in 2 years lat. Needle kneelers all around.
I forgot to mention that my wife is a school teacher and I imagine she’s one of a very few in the area that doesn’t have the jab. She said another teacher gave her grief for not getting the shot.
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