Prison Workers Not Owed Hazard Pay for Covid, Fed. Cir. Rules

Corrections officers who say the federal government owes them hazard pay for workplace coronavirus exposure without sufficient protective gear failed to convince the full Federal Circuit to revive their wage-and-hour allegations Tuesday.

The workers agree that their case depends on whether their allegations fall under existing Office of Personnel Management regulations. Although OPM could possibly provide for Covid-based differential pay, “it has not to date adopted regulations that do so,” dooming the suit, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said in a 10-2 decision.

Nearly 200 people who worked at a low-security federal correctional institute in Connecticut ...