Nursing home staff, grocery store workers and others who kept essential services running during the pandemic would receive bonuses of about $233 each — not even one-quarter of the $1,000 state officials dangled before them — based on calculations released Nov. 16 by state Comptroller-elect Sean Scanlon and by Comptroller Natalie Braswell.
But Gov. Ned Lamont said on Nov. 17 that he will call the General Assembly into special session by month’s end to increase funding for pandemic worker bonuses, among other reasons.
Lamont said he agreed to increase funding for essential-worker bonuses from $35 million to $90 million, a sum short of the $130 million necessary to pay most qualified applicants the promised $1,000 bonus for working during COVID-19.