An eligibility requirement written on the state's Hero Pay program’s website was at one point changed.
The Hero Pay program passed in the state budget with the hopes to give essential workers up to $1,000 for their hard work on the frontlines during the pandemic.
Friday, after NBC CT Responds heard from a frustrated essential worker who was denied a check, the team discovered an eligibility requirement on the program’s website had been edited.
The Hero Pay Program had its soft launch on August 5.
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On August 8, NBC CT Responds took a screenshot of the Hero Pay website’s “Frequently Asked Questions” page.
Under the question “I was employed as an essential worker for only a portion of the emergency declaration. Am I eligible?”
August 8, the website said: “Yes, to be eligible for the premium pay program, employed as an essential worker for any period of time between March 10, 2020 and May 7, 2022.”
NBC CT Responds
Friday, the website answer reads: “No, to be eligible for the Premium Pay Program, you must have been employed as an essential worker for the entire period between March 10, 2020 and May 7, 2022.”
“They lied about it,” said Lindsey Hewitt, a childcare provider. “It didn’t say that when you filled it out. It said you had to work sometime between that time period.”
Hewitt received an email Friday morning that her application was denied because she wasn’t employed as an essential worker for the “entire” period of time.
The childcare center she worked at closed its doors for a couple months at the start of the pandemic.
“We had to in order to keep everybody safe, you know ourselves including the family and children also,” said Hewitt.
Adding insult to injury, NBC CT Responds received an email from her colleague who was approved for a Hero Pay check.
NBC CT Responds asked Hewitt if they worked the same period of time through the pandemic.
“We all went out together when we collected unemployment, but then we all came back together,” she said.
A spokesperson for the Connecticut Office of the State Comptroller tells us that the requirement for an employee to work for the entire time period was written into law.
“It was our desire to extend eligibility to those workers that performed essential duties but were impacted by site closures." Current comptroller Natalie Braswell said in a statement. "Unfortunately, when we learned those applications would eventually be rejected due to the strict language in the law, and our inability to change that administratively, the website language had to be adjusted accordingly. The only remedy to grant reconsideration for those workers would be through another vote by lawmakers."
Hewitt is frustrated, to say the least, not only to be denied but to learn the website changed what it at one point said.
“I’m a single mom with three kids, so like for me, it kind of would have been nice to have that money,” she said.
We asked the comptroller’s office about why her colleague was approved and not her, but we haven’t heard back.
The comptroller’s office tells us any changes to allow folks who didn’t work for this entire period be eligible would require new legislative action.
We asked the governor's office for a comment, but they referred us to the comptroller's office since it's in charge of administering the program and its website.
