Started last Saturday, many who work in Portland will see a boost in their pay and this is due to the hazard pay under the city’s state of emergency amid the pandemic. $19.50 is how much people working in Portland will see on their timecards starting Saturday if they hadn’t made that already.
That’s a six dollar increase from Portland’s minimum hourly wage of $13 an hour. Voters approved this ordinance to pay one and a half times the minimum wage during a declared emergency. If the state of emergency ends next week in the next council meeting, so will hazard pay. Portland city council will meet this Tuesday. Five votes from council are required to make a decision.
Mayor Kate Snyder, who has expressed support for removing the emergency order, said it had allowed the city to continue holding remote public meetings. But since the council adopted a remote meeting policy over the summer, it no longer needs a state of emergency. “Is the continued use of an emergency order to have remote meetings necessary?” Snyder said. “My answer there would be no and therefore we don’t need an emergency order. If we need an emergency order, hazard pay will kick in. For me, what I’m seeing is we don’t need the emergency order and it’s being used in such a way that I don’t think is the intent of the state law with emergency orders.”
Under the ordinance that takes effect Jan. 1, all workers who report to in-person workplaces in the city must be paid a hazard wage of at least 50 percent above the regular minimum wage whenever a state or city emergency is in place. Frontline and essential workers say the hazard pay will provide some relief as they continue to go to work and risk exposure.
