DART Approves $150 Per Week Hero Pay For Frontline Workers
DALLAS (CBSDFW.COM) - The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) Board of Directors unanimously approved $4.3 million to provide Hero Pay for frontline workers, customer facing employees and essential employees at the Tuesday, June 23 board meeting.
Over 2,900 DART employees are potentially eligible for the Hero Pay package, including those employees whose core functions pose a hazardous threat because of the nature of their work and their direct interaction with the public.
DART employees who worked remotely or were not directly customer facing or did not work in hazardous conditions are not eligible.
The Hero Pay package will be provided as a lump sum amount of $150 per week for each eligible employee during the eight-week term, from April 2 to May 31, that the State of Texas issued stay at home orders and the reopening of businesses at 25% capacity.
Coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continue to break records for a second straight week, showing a sharp increase in the number of cases among younger people in North Texas.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, told lawmakers in Washington on Tuesday "the next couple weeks are going to be critical" in Texas and other states that are trying to curtail an alarming spike in new cases.
The state surpassed 5,000 new coronavirus cases in a single day for the first time this week, too.