Connecticut recently announced a $30 million Premium Pay Program that will grant up to $1,000 in “Hero Pay” to eligible essential workers employed during the pandemic. Recipients must meet certain criteria — they were unable to work from home; made less than $149,999 in 2019; was employed in a private sector between March 10, 2020 and May 7, 2022 — to apply by Oct. 1. Over 60,000 people have already registered on the program website.

The fund will reward frontline jobholders, including grocery store, transportation, energy, healthcare and agriculture employees, for serving the rest of us and keeping the economy functioning as Covid-19 attacked the U.S.

Hero Pay may not be life-changing money, but it’s going to deserving people.

For over two years, laborers have been celebrated for their bravery. “Thank you, essential workers” signs are staked in yards; front doors and windows don big red hearts. After all, we couldn’t have survived the pandemic without our critical employees.

Yet workers who entered life or death situations were some of the least protected individuals at the height of Covid-19. Many did not receive wage raises, hazard pay, or adequate PPE. They wrestled with aggressively non-compliant and potentially infectious consumers who refused to mask up in public spaces.

Still, essential workers typically “earn below average wages and have a substantial share of workers in the bottom wage quartile,” according to EconoFact.org. The state program would help out those who worked dangerous jobs for minimum wage, and should be welcomed by the public.

The “Great Resignation” theory also helps build the case for Hero Pay.

Many states cushioned unemployment benefits. In Connecticut, the average unemployment pay was $322.22/week in May 2020 and $293/week in June 2021 — the maximum amount in 2021 was $649 plus $15 for every dependent.

It doesn’t seem like much, but the founder of PayDayReport.com, Mike Elk, shared that around 3 million Americans left hazardous jobs hoping that unemployment benefits or savings would keep them afloat — it wasn’t substantial, but feasible for some minimum wage workers. Others were just too burnt out to continue regardless.

With people already living paycheck-to-paycheck, a dip in pay for an average of 29.7 weeks was occasionally more appealing than working long, back-breaking hours in a Covid-infested store or clinic. So, they quit — hence the Great Resignation.

But others stayed on the front lines. Despite the disrespect and mistreatment the essential workforce dealt with, employees still worked either willingly or because they couldn’t fall back on unemployment. They continued to stock shelves with toilet paper, transport supplies across the state, care for the ill, keep our lights on — they are worthy of $1,000 in taxable income, if not more.

It isn’t a privilege to work on the front lines, even if it permits one to keep a job. Thousands of workers got sick and some died. Hero Pay isn’t going to atone for that, but if stimulus checks could go to those who worked from home or took paid sick days, extra money can be spared for our communities’ most needed members.

The Day editorial board meets with political, business and community leaders to formulate editorial viewpoints. It is composed of President and Publisher Timothy Dwyer, Executive Editor Izaskun E. Larraneta, Owen Poole, copy editor, and Lisa McGinley, retired deputy managing editor. The board operates independently from The Day newsroom.