Health care workers still waiting for New York State COVID bonus years later
EAST RAMAPO, New York (WABC) -- A group of health care workers in a Rockland County school district tell Eyewitness News they still have not received the $3,000 COVID bonus the state told them years ago they would receive.
"We feel, like, we very much were disrespected by this," Deirdre Davis, an occupational therapist assistant in the East Ramapo School District, told investigative reporter Kristin Thorne.
For two years, Davis and dozens of her colleagues, including occupational and speech therapists and psychologists, in the East Ramapo School District have been trying to get the district to submit correctly their paperwork to the state so they can receive the $3,000 taxpayer-funded bonus.
"It was frustrating to hear neighboring districts, neighboring colleagues, that did receive it and we were wondering, why not us?" said Raquel Nieves, East Ramapo school psychologist.
In 2022, New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the Health Care and Mental Hygiene Bonus Program not only to thank pandemic frontline workers, but to recruit and retain health care workers across the state. Eligible workers who made less than $125,000 annually and remained in their positions for at least six months were eligible to receive a bonus from the state up to $3,000.
The program required employers to submit paperwork on behalf of their employees. The State distributed the money to the employer who was then required to give the money to the employee through their payroll. The State said it offered significant guidance and education to employers on how to complete the process.
East Ramapo feeding therapist Melissa Booker said the idea of getting a bonus for her work with students during the pandemic was helpful.
"When we came back in person I was working inside children's mouths who were not vaccinated and it was very scary to come to work every single day, and to feel supported that I was at least getting a little extra stipend just to recognize my difficult job was really helpful, emotionally," she said. "It makes you feel a lot less important when you go, 'Clerical error, sorry,' year after year."
Earlier this year, the East Ramapo employees contacted the New York State Office of the Medicaid Inspector General (OMIG) - the agency overseeing the bonus payments - and made them aware they had not received their bonuses.
Eyewitness News obtained a letter OMIG sent to the school district last April informing them the district made a technical error submitting forms for 46 qualified employees and instructing them to resubmit. The letter said district personnel could call the state for assistance in resubmitting.
The state said the district never resubmitted the paperwork. The portal closed on July 31.
"Why are we being punished for somebody else's error?" Davis asked. "It's time for us to have the money."
The school district said in a statement to Eyewitness News: "All employees deemed eligible for this benefit will be paid. Along with the state, we apologize for any delays."
According to the state Medicaid Inspector General, the East Ramapo employees are part of a group of 168 people from 40 employers across the state who have not received their health care worker bonuses amounting to approximately $504,000.
When Eyewitness News asked Hochul's office about the half-million dollars in taxpayer money that hasn't been distributed to qualified employees, a spokesperson responded that the Governor's program has given out more than $2 billion to 800,000 employees across the state.
"To address any cases where employers have not yet completed the verification process, the State added an additional submission period which ensures payments for workers while maintaining appropriate standards for responsible use of taxpayer funds," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the next window to submit will be in January 2025.
Investigative reporter Kristin Thorne pushed Hochul's office to answer how they are going to ensure employers, like the East Ramapo School District, correctly file the paperwork in January for their qualified employees, but they did not answer the question.
The New York State Department of Health (DOH) said in a statement to Eyewitness News: " At this time, we are still working with the East Ramapo school district directly to verify the number of eligible employees, their current employment status and how many employees remain who are still owed a bonus that haven't already been identified by OMIG."
DOH said in order to ensure the responsible use of taxpayer funds, it is unable to process any bonus payments until employers have accurately completed the submission process. They said the East Ramapo School District made multiple submissions for their employees, which corrupted the data and DOH is unable to process the claims until the school district fixes the error.
"I personally don't mind where the error took place," Davis said. "I just think out of respect for the number of people that we are and how hard we worked during a very critical time during the pandemic, we deserve a better answer than there was a technical error."
DOH said the state has paid $75,000 in bonus payments to the East Ramapo School District, but they did not specify which employees received those payments.
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