Health and social service workers across the province are receiving temporary pandemic pay from the BC Government for working on the frontlines during Covid-19.
Care aids, domestic violence workers, corrections service workers, and those working in addictions and mental health support will be getting the boost.
However, a Prince George court clerk is wondering why their profession has been left out of the deal.
“(I’m feeling) frustrated and a lot of disappointment and underappreciated for sure,” said the clerk, who spoke to MyPGNow on the condition of anonymity, as they feared speaking out could impact their employment.
“That goes across the board. I’ve talked to other court staff from across the province as well to see how they were feeling.”
The program, cost-shared with the Federal Government, will see eligible workers receive the equivalent to an extra $4 per hour, for a 16-week period.
The lump-sum payment comes to an extra $2,240.
Courthouses have remained open during Covid-19, and the clerk staff does not have the option of working from home the clerk told MyPGNow.
“I can’t believe, having to come into work every day, that court clerks would be excluded from other frontline and essential workers being given the pandemic pay.”
“We have been there all the time, every day, day in and day out. We are still dealing with members of the public; our doors are not closed. There are also individuals who are provincial employees who are getting the pandemic pay and they have been working from home since March 17.”
Multiple individuals have complained about the exclusion to superiors, says the clerk, but to no avail.
“It’s a slap in the face is what it is. It’s like ‘thanks for the work that you do, however it’s not good enough, or not important enough.'”
“We have a thing, like a (message board) that staff can post on. A few people have posted on there and I know of one individual who actually got a phone call from the admin for employee relations with regards to the comment that she made on the site about the unfairness of it all.”
Temporary pandemic pay is part of the government’s $5-billion Covid-19 Action Plan to provide relief to those affected by the virus in British Columbia.
It builds off the planned minimum wage increase set for today (June 1), and existing supports for people during the pandemic, including the B.C. Emergency Benefit for Workers and the enhanced B.C. Climate Action Tax Credit boost in July, which doubles the annual benefit for low- and middle-income people.
“I can tell you that without the clerks, the courts would not run. Plain and simple.”